ICE is giving local police big money to help with immigration enforcement

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference in front of posters of people that law enforcement arrested, held at the ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations office on May 1, 2025 in Miramar, Fla. Florida has issued its own financial incentives to encourage more local police cooperation with ICE. Joe Raedle/ North America hide caption toggle caption Joe Raedle/ North America At a press conference in March, Florida Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia, flanked by American flags, had a collection of large checks to give out. The money was part of a pool of $250 million from the state, and one by one, four sheriffs posed with oversized novelty checks. "Let's start giving the money away," Ingoglia told the room. "I am proud to give out these checks to these sheriffs standing in front of me for all the hard work that they've been doing, keeping our communities safe and helping to deport criminal illegal aliens." The Okaloosa County Sheriff's Office got around $100,000; the Escambia County Sheriff's Office: nearly $1 million; the Santa Rosa County Sheriff's Office: more than $280,000; and the Franklin County Sheriff's Office: nearly $50,000. The counties received the money after joining a federal program called 287(g), which gives local police the authority to arrest undocumented immigrants, normally the work of federal immigration officers. …