About 1,100 people were arrested as part of the weeklong, statewide immigration enforcement sting known as “Operation Tidal Wave,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Thursday, calling the sweep a model for the nation as authorities seek to remove tens of thousands more immigrants living in Florida with deportation orders.

DeSantis stood alongside Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials at a morning news conference in Miramar to commend the work as part of President Donald Trump’s nationwide crackdown.

Madison Sheehan, ICE deputy director, said the effort led to “the single most arrests done by a state in a single week” in the agency’s history — with more to come.

“I think the governor would agree that this will not be the last one here in the State of Florida but also a model that we’re able to take to other states to make it a priority that the president has kept to the American people to make sure our communities are safe and continue to be safe,” Sheehan said.

Operation Tidal Wave, which concluded last week, was conducted by federal authorities working with state and local agencies that signed agreements to partner with ICE as part of the so-called 287(g) program.

Of the 1,120 people arrested statewide, 387 were said to have received final orders of removal from an immigration judge. Most of the detainees are either from Guatemala, 437, or Mexico, 280. Authorities said many were members of gangs like Tren de Aragua or MS-13, but the number of those identified as such was not mentioned.

It’s unclear how many arrests were made in the Greater Orlando area, but the governor’s office listed Orange County among the sheriff’s offices that “provided significant assistance” for Operation Tidal Wave.

Reporters were told of two men with criminal records facing deportation: one a Mexican said to have been convicted of human smuggling and another a Colombian with a history of theft and burglary. Those men were arrested in Jupiter and Polk County, respectively.

While a law signed by DeSantis earlier this year requires sheriffs and county jails to join the program, city police departments including in Orlando have felt pressure to take part. Despite the Orlando Police Department signing an agreement last month, the city received threats from Tallahassee for its policy banning city employees and cops from asking about immigration status — an episode DeSantis said was “taken care of” even though the city has said its policy, called the Trust Act, has not changed.

OPD is among 244 agencies in Florida to have active agreements with ICE as of Wednesday. Between Jan. 1 and April 30 there were 1,018 people booked into the Orange County Jail with an ICE detainer compared to 1,016 similarly booked in all of last year.

Thirty-eight more agencies — including the Central Florida police departments of Belle Isle, Eatonville, Kissimmee, Ocoee, Sanford, Windermere and Winter Springs — are expected to ink a deal with federal authorities.

Illegal immigration “is a problem that affects communities throughout the State of Florida — it does affect criminal activity, it is a way to bring in drugs, bring in human trafficking, a whole bunch of other stuff,” said DeSantis, who added that more than 80,000 people live in the state with deportation orders. “So they’re all on board, they’ve all signed up.”

DeSantis has proposed expanding space in Florida to house detained migrants in collaboration with federal efforts. Specifics on what that would look like have been few, but the governor said Thursday such a move can happen “very quickly” and plans have already been submitted to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

Larry Keefe, executive director of the state Board of Immigration Enforcement, was in attendance at the news conference and called the efforts “quintessentially a numbers mission” and encouraged residents to ensure local law enforcement complies.

“If you’re engaged in mass deportation and you’re focused on success in mass deportation in Florida, then you got to know how many apprehensions are you having, how many people have you detained, how many people have you deported,” said Keefe, who helped orchestrate DeSantis’ controversial migrant flights to other states in 2022. “So it is key for the for the the citizens of the state and the citizens of the country to hold their leaders accountable — to find out what is your sheriff doing, what is your police chief doing.”

But the state’s enforcement efforts are not without controversy. Most recently, a federal judge in Miami issued an order against the state law banning entry without inspection — a misdemeanor offense targeting undocumented foreign nationals.

Despite the order, Attorney General James Uthmeier waffled on whether to continue its enforcement — initially ordering state agencies to not arrest people under that law only to then say he could not stop them from doing so. The latter move prompted U.S. District Judge Kathleen Williams to consider finding Uthmeier in contempt.

DeSantis said Thursday of the matter: “We actually feel confident that we’ll ultimately be vindicated on that.”

“It should be a crime to enter the State of Florida illegally; we have police power to be able to do that,” he added. “That does not undercut or interfere with federal efforts. In fact, if anything, it (the legal pushback) buttresses federal efforts.”

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