Florida is one of just a few States complying with the Federal Immigration Law, Rule and Regulations.

 

Nearly 25,000 immigration arrests made in Florida

Florida will continue to use every available resource to identify dangerous individuals, support federal immigration enforcement and keep our citizens safe,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said.

By Bethany Blankley | The Center Square contributor justthenews.com 5-29-26

Since Florida launched its immigration enforcement effort, Operation Tidal Wave, in February, nearly 25,000 arrests have been made statewide.

“Florida will continue to use every available resource to identify dangerous individuals, support federal immigration enforcement and keep our citizens safe,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said. “No state has moved faster or done more to combat illegal immigration than Florida, and we will continue to lead the charge in protecting our communities.”

Operation Tidal Wave was launched as Florida leads the country with the most 287(g) U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agreements of any state, The Center Square reported. The program is named after a section of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1996 and authorizes ICE to delegate to state and local law enforcement officers the authority to perform specified immigration functions under its supervision.

The Trump administration expanded the program to include three models: the Jail Enforcement Model (JEM), Task Force Model (TFM) and Warrant Service Officer (WSO) model, The Center Square reported. Florida is the only state to have all of its sheriffs participating in 287(g), with most participating in the TFM and or all three models. Nearly 200 police departments, 12 state agencies and 15 state universities and colleges, as well as county commissioner detention facilities and correctional facilities, are participating in 287(g). No other state has as many agencies participating in 287(g), and primarily in the TFM, as Florida does, according to ICE data.

During the first week of Operation Tidal Wave, Florida law enforcement arrested more than 1,100 criminal illegal foreign nationals, a record for Florida. The only state with more arrests in a single week is in Texas, where Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star is underway. While these arrests are not solely through 287(g) partnerships, Texas law enforcement through OLS have made more than half a million arrests over the last five years, The Center Square reported. OLS is ongoing.

Key 287(g) partnership arrests were made in Florida through three recent multi-agency immigration enforcement operations: Operation Sandhill Sentinel, Operation LOCATE and Operation Criminal Return.

In south Florida, Operation Sandhill Sentinel led to the arrest of 250 illegal foreign nationals, including those with extensive criminal histories ranging from domestic violence to drug offenses, DUI and assault, among other violent crimes. Those arrested also had final orders of removal and repeat immigration violations, ICE found.

The Florida Highway Patrol (FDLE), Broward Sheriff’s Office, ICE, U.S. Border Patrol, Homeland Security Investigations, Florida National Guard and Florida State Guard were involved in the operation.

Another key arrest earlier this month was of a Honduran national and known MS-13 gang member illegally residing in Palm Beach County. A multi-agency operation led to the arrest of Luis Merary Peralta-Sevilla, who illegally entered the country in 2013 in Texas. He was never deported until the second Trump administration, which also designated MS-13 as a foreign terrorist organization. MS-13 members are also being prosecuted nationwide.

In Operation Criminal Return, FDLE and ICE sought to identify criminal foreign nationals who are registered sex offenders and sexual predators. In a 10-day targeted operation they arrested 230 people statewide, including sexual predators and sex offenders, convicted felons, a convicted drug trafficker, and convicted murderers, according to FDLE and ICE.

In Operation LOCATE, the FDLE partnered with Homeland Security in an intelligence-led initiative focused on identifying and locating unaccompanied alien children (UACs).

They located more than 400 UACs statewide and outside of Florida, verifying their safety and living conditions “while uncovering cases involving trafficking concerns, missing children, and other high-risk situations,” the governor’s office said.

UACs are foreign national children under age 18 who arrive in the U.S. without their parents or family members. They are primarily smuggled into the country and once in the U.S., the federal government doesn’t deport them but sends them to live with so-called sponsors. Florida has historically received the most UACs behind Texas and California, The Center Square reported.

As the border crisis worsened under the Biden administration, sponsors in 29 counties in Florida received more than 10,000 UACs, The Center Square reported.

In response to reports of abuse and neglect of UACs in Florida, DeSantis called for a state grand jury to launch an investigation. It found “horrible atrocities inflicted on immigrant children in Florida” including allegations of human trafficking and child abuse. It also found that the federal government lost track of more than 20,000 children in Florida and performed no background checks on the sponsors the UACs were sent to, among other issues, The Center Square reported.

Last year, the Trump administration launched an initiative to conduct welfare checks on UACs after President Donald Trump’s border czar Tom Homan said more than 350,000 UACs were unaccounted for.

 

Using 'Parole in Place' on a mass scale is illegal; it is reserved for a 'case by case' basis.

 

Biden's Department of Homeland Security released 90% of border migrants through parole program: GAO

The report explains that information about the non-citizens' parole status isn't readily accessible, making it hard for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take action as appropriate.

By Kevin Killough justthenews.com 5-29-26

Nearly 90% of migrants arriving at the U.S.-Mexico border during part of the Biden administration were released through parole, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office. 

Between early 2021 and the start of President Donald Trump's second term on Jan. 20, 2025, the Department of Homeland Security greatly expanded the use of "humanitarian parole." 

Between 2019 and 2020, by contrast, parole was granted in approximately 3% to 28% of cases at the southern border, according to the GAO, an independent government agency that produces reports for Congress. 

The number of paroles that were granted increased beginning in the summer of 2021 and peaked in December 2022, when 89% of encounters resulted in parole, the report states. 

Paroles declined after December 2022, and then dropped further after Trump assumed office. The report explains that information about the non-citizens' parole status isn't readily accessible, making it hard for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to take action as appropriate. 

"This report further proves the terrifying truth that the Biden-Harris Administration undermined lawful immigration enforcement and used its mass-parole, catch-and-release agenda to further intensify a historic crisis––which we are still working every day to recover from. DHS frontline personnel deserve our support as they carry out the critical mission of protecting Americans, enforcing our laws, and working to locate the countless public safety threats that were allowed into our country under the previous administration," Rep. Michael Guest, R-Miss., chair of the Subcommittee on Border Security and Enforcement, said in a statement. 

 

Medicaid fraud in Minnesota is rampant and must be stopped; those involved must be held accountable.

 

ICE arrests two Minnesota residents who are charged with $21 million in healthcare fraud

Authorities say that through two companies that one of the suspects owned, the defendants carried out a scheme to defraud a health care benefit program of approximately $21.1 million by submitting false claims to Medicaid.

By Kevin Killough justthenews.com 5-28-26

Two Minnesota residents were arrested on charges of health care fraud after allegedly stealing more than $21 million in taxpayer funds. 

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) arrested Shamso Ahmed Hassan and Hanaan Mursal Yusuf. They face eight counts of health care fraud and two counts of money laundering. 

Both women are U.S. citizens, with Hassan having been naturalized. 

Authorities say that through two companies that Hassan owned, Smart Therapy Center LLC and Star Autism Center LLC, the defendants carried out a scheme to defraud a health care benefit program of approximately $21.1 million by submitting false claims to Medicaid. They carried out the alleged activities over a four-year timespan. 

"Their Medicaid fraud scheme started during the COVID pandemic and lasted for four years. ICE continues to zero in on the rampant fraud in Minnesota. Under [Department of Homeland] Secretary [Markwayne] Mullin, we will end the defrauding of the American people," Acting Assistant Sec. Lauren Bis said in a statement. 

The suspects are being held in federal custody pending judicial proceedings. 

 

Whenever 'government money' flows, fraud, waste and abuse follows. Government must contain this abuse of taxpayer money!

 

Immigration nonprofits fair game for investigations, says new House task force leader Brandon Gill

Gill has taken particular interest in examining organizations and politicians who used their charitable status for political benefit.

By Amanda Head  justthenews.com 5-29-26

Nonprofits that abuse the government for political gain may soon find themselves in the investigative crosshairs of a newly formed House task force, says Texas GOP Rep. Brandon Gill, who will lead the panel under the House Oversight Committee.

The six-month Task Force on Defending Constitutional Rights and Exposing Institutional Abuses will examine illegal DEI policies, misuse of immigration and social welfare programs that defraud taxpayers, and efforts by foreign actors and dark money groups to suppress free speech. 

"You do not have the right to run an organization that takes tax dollars that engages in illegal activity or engages in domestic unrest or engages oftentimes in political activity, whether it's nonprofits or other sorts of entities that are taking government money," Gill, the task force chairman, told Just The News exclusively this week.

The freshman lawmaker was appointed to the chairmanship post by House Oversight Chairman James Comer, a Kentucky Republican.  

Gill argues that Congress has the responsibility to examine the issues of abuse and fraud and withhold funds from groups found to be in violation.

"We have to ask ourselves as elected representatives if it makes sense to take your hard-earned tax money and put it in the pockets of NGOs or other entities that are working against you and against American interests, and the answer is obviously no," said Gill, who also said his task will focus on defending constitutional rights against institutional abuses.

"So that's a big part of going after fraud and going after waste and abuse as well."

Gill and Comer took quick oversight action almost immediately after the task force was launched – requesting documents on alleged fraud in Ohio’s Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services program. 

Ohio's HCBS Medicaid waiver program provides such services as personal care, homemaking and chores to allow Medicaid recipients to live at home instead of in nursing facilities. Recent reporting exposed alleged widespread fraud, including improper or fake billing totaling potentially over $1 billion. 

Gill says that while fraud happens across the country, red states such as Ohio have been more willing to examine and investigate. 

"Most Republicans would agree with me that if there is fraud in a red state, we want to go after that just as aggressively as we would in a blue state," he said. "But the fact is that far more often than not, this fraud is taking place in states that Democrats control, whether it's California or New York or Minnesota or many other states."

Gill has taken particular interest in examining organizations and politicians who used their charitable status for political benefit.

"Those are the areas where we have found, like we did in Minnesota, that elected representatives kind of made a deal with fraudsters, that you can defraud the federal government or the state government, and we're going to look the other way, and we want you to vote for us," he told Just The News, 

"That was kind of the deal that elected representatives, Democrats, made in Minnesota. I think you see that in other areas where, essentially, the left is weaponizing the federal purse in order to pursue their own political gain and to attack Republicans, and that's something that we're going after aggressively."

In particular, recent fraud scandals in Minnesota have drawn intense scrutiny of the state's Democratic leadership.

Federal prosecutors estimate that fraud in social services programs – including Medicaid, child care, housing stabilization, and COVID-era nutrition initiatives like Feeding Our Future—could total up to $9 billion. 

High-profile cases include a $250 million scheme in which fraudsters submitted fake meal claims, leading to convictions such as a 41.5-year sentence for a key figure. 

Minnesota's Democratic Gov. Tim Walz faced heavy criticism for alleged lax oversight and slow response, contributing to his decision not to seek reelection. 

Critics, including Republicans, argue his administration fostered a “culture of tolerance” for fraud, while Democrats counter that they took the issue seriously, pursued investigations, and that GOP actions are politically motivated or tied to broader immigration enforcement, according to nytimes.com and cbsnews.com. 

The scandal has become a liability for other Democrats, such as Lt. Gov. Peggy Flanagan in the 2026 Senate race, amid ongoing congressional hearings and audits.

Another issue Gill and members of Congress are probing is foreign interference through nonprofits. 

Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, R-N.Y., talked about the work the House Ways and Means Committee is doing as the overseers of the IRS and tax policy. 

That committee has been investigating the issue of foreign interference through foreign money funneled into U.S. nonprofits to undermine and disrupt the country. Malliotakis says liberal trans-rights activist group Code Pink is the latest example. 

"We saw those college campus protests that were anti-Semitic being fueled by foreign money, and we've exposed a lot of it, and we've turned that over to the IRS for consideration," she said. 

"Here we have Code Pink. They've met with the Communist Cuba regime. They've met with the Communist Chinese regime. In fact, a lot of their money comes from Communist China. They've met with the Iranian regime, with the leadership of Hamas at one point. These are people who are actively working against the United States of America and trying to undermine us."

Malliotakis said that Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will be appearing before the House Ways and Means Committee soon to talk about these issues, and she intends to make the 501c3 status of such groups a priority in her questioning, as they are effectively subsidized by taxpayers.

Other Republican members of the task force include Reps. Jim Jordan, of Ohio; Andy Biggs, of Arizona; Michael Cloud, of Texas; Byron Donalds, of Florida; and Brian Jack, of Georgia.