Arrests of migrants without criminal records surged by more than 450 percent in Florida this June, with people of black descent among those increasingly swept up in the federal government’s expanded immigration crackdown.
Data published by the Deportation Data Project shows that 36 percent of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests in Florida in June were of people the government labeled as having no criminal history, a 457 percent jump compared to the same time last year.
Since the start of President Donald Trump’s second term, ICE has carried out 10,818 arrests in Florida, nearly three times the number recorded in the same period last year.
While arrests of individuals with convictions also rose, the largest month-to-month increase was among those without charges or convictions.
Between May and June, ICE arrests of non-criminals in Florida rose by 86 percent, outpacing the national rate.
Human rights observers and legal analysts say the increase includes many Black immigrants, particularly African Americans born in the Caribbean or raised in the U.S. without documentation.
Although living in the country without legal status is not a crime, Florida law enforcement has aggressively pursued migrants under federal-local partnerships.
Governor Ron DeSantis, a leading advocate of strict immigration enforcement, said the state will continue “setting the pace.”
Florida has more 287 agreements with ICE than any other state, allowing local police to arrest and detain people suspected of being undocumented.
Those partnerships now extend to some campus police forces.
At a recent state immigration board meeting, DeSantis and other officials credited the rising arrests to closer cooperation between local departments and federal agents.
But the surge is straining detention space.
According to Human Rights Watch, the number of people detained daily in federal immigration centers across Florida is 111 percent higher than before the January inauguration. On July 17, ICE held 1,932 people in detention across the state, nearly 500 more than in early 2025.
Overcrowding has worsened conditions inside detention centers.
A state-run facility built in the Everglades in just eight days, known as “Alligator Alcatraz” now holds more than 750 detainees, including over 250 with no criminal charges.
Detainees at that and other facilities say they have been denied access to medical care, fed expired food, and blocked from speaking with attorneys. Some told investigators they were forced to eat without their hands while restrained.
Five of ICE’s 11 in-custody deaths this year happened in Florida.
Despite the criticism, DeSantis said Florida would not rush plans to build a second state detention center. Instead, he called on the federal government to expand capacity using $45 billion recently allocated to ICE.
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, who chairs the state’s immigration advisory board, said current housing standards are too strict. He wants the federal government to allow more county jails to detain immigrants under Florida’s rules, calling federal regulations “insane at worst.”
Civil rights groups and some lawmakers have raised concerns about transparency at the Everglades facility and questioned the $245 million spent on its rapid construction. Others are calling for closer scrutiny of who is being targeted in the enforcement push.
Florida’s surge in arrests of non-criminal migrants, including blacks, is now the highest in the nation.
By: Joshua Narh