Florida Made Nearly 20,000 Immigration Arrests in 2025

Gov. Ron DeSantis announced plans for third deportation site—the ‘Panhandle Pokey.’

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (L) reveals the state's latest immigration enforcement efforts at a press conference at Deportation Depot in Sanderson on Jan. 5, 2025. Natasha Holt for The Epoch Times

Nearly 20,000 immigration arrests were made in Florida in 2025, Gov. Ron DeSantis announced during a Jan. 5 press conference highlighting his state’s immigration enforcement standards.

Of that total number, 10,000 arrests were made as part of the Department of Homeland Security’s Operation Tidal Wave, and 7,674 were taken into custody by Florida’s highway patrol officers.