Immigration and Customs Enforcement

Law enforcement agencies are coordinating their response plans ahead of major upcoming sporting events in Miami like the FIFA Club World Cup, targeting general security and human trafficking.

Florida House Democrats in Tallahassee are demanding answers from the state Department of Children and Families over its role in handing over a foster child from Honduras to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. The boy, Henry, is a suspected undocumented immigrant.

Demands from the White House for a drastic increase in arrests of people who have entered the country illegally have pushed immigration officials into overdrive to fulfill President Donald Trump’s pledge of mass deportations.

Since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, U.S. immigration officials have deputized a record number of local police to function as deportation agents, despite repeated warnings from government watchdogs since 2018 that the program does not adequately train and oversee officers.

Local media outlets in South Florida reported Thursday that the Cuban detainees are angry that they are being held without being told when they may be released and fear they may be transferred to other immigrant detention facilities outside the U.S.

“This is extortion pretending to be generosity,” said Alex Berrios, co-Founder of Mi Vecino, adding that President Trump "is offering people a check to leave before ICE agents throw them into a detention center.”

U.S. Rep. Frederica Wilson, D-Miami Gardens, and U.S. Rep Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick, D-Miramar, denounced the Trump administration for allowing what they said were “inhumane” conditions at a facility in Pompano Beach that houses suspected undocumented immigrants. A 44-year-old Haitian woman died last week while in federal custody.

“Ms. [Marie Ange] Blaise's life mattered, and we owe it to her and to the public to understand how such a loss occurred while she was in the care and custody of the U.S. government,” wrote U.S. Rep Sheila Cherfilus-McCormick.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed on Tuesday that Marie Ange Blaise, a 44-year-old Haitian woman, died in federal custody at the Broward Transitional Center in Pompano Beach.

The operation began Monday and targeted immigrants living in the country illegally with final deportation orders, according to an ICE official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss the operation. The officers picked up more than 275 migrants with final removal orders, the data showed.

FIU faculty said they are concerned that the agreement between university police and ICE will have a chilling effect throughout the student body, which includes more than 3,500 international students, according to the school’s website.

Felipe Zapata Velásquez, 27, was arrested March 28 for driving with a U.S. driver’s license that had been suspended since January 2024 with an outdated vehicle registration.