Florida officials have been accused of quietly scrubbing records showing U.S. citizens were swept up in the Trump administration’s immigration dragnet after a local paper started asking questions.
The state, led by Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, has collaborated closely with the administration to carry out President Donald Trump’s mass deportation push. Earlier this month, Florida launched an online dashboard tracking arrests of suspected undocumented immigrants.
The Miami New Times reports that on Oct. 14, the dashboard showed that 21 U.S. citizens had been arrested and charged since Aug. 1. The dashboard reportedly counted another nine U.S. citizens who had encounters with law enforcement but were not arrested.
President Donald Trump, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem tour “Alligator Alcatraz,” a new migrant detention center in a reptile-infested Florida swamp. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/Getty Images
Yet, the New Times reports that when it inquired why U.S. citizens were being arrested in the immigration sweeps, the numbers suddenly began to change.
The dashboard’s “Demographics” tab now shows that two U.S. citizens were arrested on local or state charges since Aug. 1. No encounters with U.S. citizens that did not result in arrests appear in the records.
An Oct. 10 Tampa Bay Times article previously reported that the dashboard showed “at least two dozen” encounters with U.S. citizens.
Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis often touts how many Florida law enforcement agencies—more than any other state—signed the 287(g) agreement to cooperate with ICE and hand over undocumented detainees. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
According to the New Times’ Oct. 15 report, neither the Florida State Board of Immigration Enforcement, DeSantis’ office, nor the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) responded to a request for an explanation for the shifting figures.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the same offices for comment on the New Times report.
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