Florida proposes state-run deportation flights for illegal immigrants

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis released a blueprint for immigration enforcement Friday that proposes having the state deputize National Guard lawyers to serve as immigration judges and to orchestrate its own deportation flights to oust migrants.

Mr. DeSantis said the state also has capacity to run migrant detention facilities that are up to Homeland Security’s standards. And he said state agencies and local sheriff’s departments are ready to help with transporting migrants around the state or to airports for deportation.

The Republican governor said Florida is leading the way in forging cooperation with a willing Trump administration, and he challenged other red states to follow his lead.

“You really need to be in the game, you need to be partnering with ICE and you need to be conducting your own operations,” the governor told reporters Friday.

His blueprint came a day after Mr. DeSantis stood with Homeland Security officials to announce the results of a massive federal-state operation to round up illegal immigrants with criminal records. They said they made 1,120 arrests.

Mr. DeSantis earlier this year signed an aggressive law that imposes state-level penalties on illegal immigrants who enter Florida, and also directed state and local law enforcement to sign cooperative agreements with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Those deals, known as 287(g) agreements because of the section of federal law that governs them, will allow state and local police to be deputized to conduct immigration enforcement and start the deportation process.

But the governor said Florida can do much more to help speed those deportations.

His blueprint calls for training lawyers from the Florida National Guard’s Judge Advocate General staff to act as immigration judges. He said there are nine JAG officers “suitable for training.”

The blueprint also says the state, with its experience in emergency preparedness, has 12 vendors ready to provide up to 10,000 detention beds for migrant detention.