federal agents and Florida state troopers arrested suspected Venezuelan gang members during an operation in Tallahassee, according to the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.
DHSMV released an image Monday morning of a law enforcement officer holding a man next to a Florida Highway Patrol vehicle. According to the department, FHP collaborated with Homeland Security Investigations and US Immigration and Customs Enforcement to conduct the operation.
“This morning, FHP and our federal partners (HSI and ICE) completed dual operations in Tallahassee, detaining suspected Tren De Aruaga members on suspicion of weapon smuggling conspiracy, criminal gang affiliation, warrants and illegal entry to the U.S.,” DHSMV said in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
The agency provided no other information regarding Monday’s operation, such as the number of people apprehended, the location of the operation, or the names of those detained.
It was the second time in less than a week that the Florida Highway Patrol collaborated with federal officials to hold individuals suspected of immigration and related crimes.
Recent ICE enforcement operations have fueled fear in immigrant communities in the Big Bend, forcing some parents to pull their children out of school due to rumors of raids on social media.
Last Tuesday, DHSMV reported that FHP and HSI detained 12 people during a raid in Jefferson County who were “believed to be illegally residing” in the United States, specifically in Florida.
Several accused Tren de Aragua gang members have been arrested across the country in recent days, including in Aurora, Colorado; Bismarck, North Dakota; and New York City.
On January 20, the same day President Donald Trump took office for the second time, the White House said that it planned to designate criminal cartels and gangs, including Tren de Aragua, as terrorist groups and deport accused members under the Alien Enemies Act.
Federal charges are pending against at least four individuals in the Panhandle for allegedly re-entering the United States after deportation. Gulf Breeze police arrested two Guatemalan males during a traffic stop on January 27, according to federal court records. The Florida Highway Patrol made another arrest during a traffic stop in the Pensacola region on January 30.
According to Elizabeth Ricci, a Tallahassee immigration attorney, ICE is focusing enforcement on those with criminal backgrounds and/or previous deportation orders, despite the fact that such individuals make up a small proportion of the overall immigrant community.
She stated that the government typically enforces previous deportation orders when someone returns to the country after removal. However, she stated that the government can prosecute and imprison such persons before deporting them once they have served their sentence in the United States.
“It’s just very expensive for the state to do that,” she said. “But … a lot of this is optics.”
