At least three public universities in Florida are looking to deputize campus police forces to allow them to carry out immigration enforcement.
The New York Post reports that schools in Florida are looking to employ this new approach in line with Governor Ron DeSantis’s requirement for local and state agencies to support federal immigration enforcement as much as possible.
Federal officials across the US have revoked visas from international students for a variety of reasons in recent weeks, from accusations of domestic terrorism to speeding tickets.
At present, Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, the University of Florida in Gainesville and the University of South Florida in Tampa are looking to deputize campus police to aid with immigration enforcement.
“We are simply following guidance from the Governor’s Feb. 19 directive to state law enforcement agencies, of which FAUPD and other state university police departments are included,” a representative of Florida Atlantic University said in a statement.
ICE recently began the 287(g) Program, which allows local agencies to enter into agreements with the federal government to perform “specific immigration officer functions.” So far, no universities have entered into such an agreement with ICE.
The program offers three different models for cooperation with ICE, including a “task-force” model that allows participating officers to interrogate “any alien or person believed to be an alien” about their right to remain in the country. The model also allows them to make arrests without warrants in certain cases.
A minimum of one million deportations is the goal for the Trump administration in 2025, according to government officials who spoke to The Washington Post.
“That’s their goal,” a former government official said.
“They say it jokingly: ‘We’ve got to get a million removals.’”
The Trump administration has been negotiating with as many as 30 different countries to get them to take deportees who are not their citizens. These include Mexico and Costa Rica.
Deals have already been signed with El Salvador, Guatemala and Panama.
More than 100,000 migrants have already been deported, and large numbers have also self-deported before authorities could apprehend them.
During his election campaign, President Trump promised “the largest mass deportation operation in American history.” He suggested at least 20 million people are in the US illegally and must be deported.
Since taking office in January, President Trump has following a multi-pronged approach to tackling the immigration crisis, which has included ending birthright citizenship, raids targeting the most dangerous illegals known to authorities already, and deals with other countries to house illegals deported from the US.