In a partnership dubbed “Operation 9,” federal, state and local law enforcement officers captured 249 illegal immigrants during a three-day sweep across Florida.
The effort represents an increasingly coordinated and successful operation in the state, aimed at arresting illegal aliens along Florida’s roadsides, according to an exclusive report Friday by Fox News Digital.
The effort is in sharp contrast with certain Democrat-run “sanctuary” states and cities which refuse to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) teamed up with the other agencies, and the illegals were captured, processed and handed over to United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the outlet reported.
Many of those detained on the shoulders of South Florida highways were “ghosts,” Lt. Ramin Sulaiman, assistant commander of the FHP Immigration Enforcement Section, told Fox. “We have no records for them, no accountability of who they are.”
Sulaiman pointed out that more than 1 million immigrants who entered the United States illegally during the Biden administration told authorities at the border that they were headed to Florida and were then released.
“But that does not include all the ghosts, meaning the people that have no encounters [with law enforcement],” Sulaiman said. “They’re just here.”
It’s unknown if they have criminal histories and/or nefarious intentions, he said.
Florida’s illegal alien apprehension record is noteworthy.
Nearly 10,500 illegal immigrants have been gathered up since March 2025, Dave Kerner, executive director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, told Fox News Digital.
Often they are found without a license during routine stops for driving infractions, leading to questions that reveal they are not citizens.
Trooper Tony Golden, who normally focuses on commercial vehicles in the six counties in Florida’s Panhandle, told the outlet that based on his encounters on the highways he believes the number of illegals in Florida is “astronomical.”
He bristles at the idea that patrolman are focused primarily on immigration enforcement or racially profiling stops, as critics have claimed.
“We are enforcing the law,” he said. “We don’t pick and choose what we want to enforce.”
Fox Digital rode along with troopers in the most recent operation.
According to the outlet:
During Operation 9, more than 100 officers huddled in groups before daybreak at an FHP station in Broward County. Gathered were troopers, agents from ICE and U.S. Border Patrol, deputies on specialty teams from the Broward Sheriff’s Office, officers with Florida’s Division of Alcoholic Beverages and Tobacco, and guardsmen with the Florida State Guard.
During Operation 9, officers made frequent trips back to the station, guiding handcuffed men and women into an air-conditioned waiting area. There, they were patted down, processed for transfer to ICE and offered bottled water and snacks.
Later, most of those detained have a choice, Nestor Yglesias, a public affairs officer for ICE, told the outlet. They can opt for an arranged flight back home, or wait in custody for an immigration hearing
ICE determines whether an immigrant will pay for his or her flight out of the country or whether the U.S. government will foot the bill, Yglesias said. Some leave with a self-deportation incentive, up to $2,600 recently, he said.
The state has carried out eight other operations since October, officials said, thus giving the latest effort the “Operation 9” handle.
Contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the author of the New York Times true crime best seller House of Secrets and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more.