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EXCLUSIVE: DAVIE, Fla. — Law enforcement officers from across Florida are teaming up on increasingly coordinated and successful efforts to arrest illegal immigrants along the state’s roadsides.
This month, Fox News Digital rode along with troopers with the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) on its largest partnership yet, dubbed Operation 9.
During the three-day sweep, FHP teamed up with five other federal, state and local agencies.
After three days, 249 illegal immigrants had been captured, processed and handed over to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
A federal immigration officer stands beside a detained individual near a vehicle during an enforcement operation. (Natasha Holt for Fox News Digital)
And many handcuffed on the shoulders of South Florida highways were "ghosts," said Lt. Ramin Sulaiman, assistant commander of the FHP Immigration Enforcement Section.
What’s alarming, he said, is "we have no records for them, no accountability of who they are."
And that’s what his team sees every day in their routine work patrolling the state’s highways.
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More than 1 million immigrants who came into the country illegally during the Biden administration told immigration officials at the border that they were headed to Florida, Sulaiman said. Then, they were released.
"But that does not include all the ghosts, meaning the people that have no encounters [with law enforcement]," said Sulaiman.
"They’re just here."
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And with unknown criminal histories and intentions, he said.
Florida has about 23.5 million known residents. Based on their daily roadside encounters, Sulaiman and other troopers say there are likely millions more uncounted ghosts.
Florida’s tactics
Troopers patrolling the Sunshine State on routine duties have happened upon — and gathered up — more than 10,476 illegal immigrants since March 2025, Dave Kerner, executive director of the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, told Fox News Digital.
Dave Kerner stands outside the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles' headquarters in Florida. (Natasha Holt for Fox News Digital)
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On routine stops for driving infractions, they find that many drivers don’t have a license. That’s the first clue they might not be citizens. And that leads to more-probing questions.
Trooper Tony Golden normally focuses on commercial vehicles on the highways in six counties in Florida’s Panhandle.
He encounters so many illegal immigrants in his day-to-day work that he believes the number of them in Florida "is astronomical," he said.
Golden understands why immigration enforcement is a polarizing topic, even among some law enforcement officers.
But "we are enforcing the law," he said. "We don't pick and choose what we want to enforce."
He bristles at suggestions that troopers pull over drivers because they look a certain way.
"People accuse officers of targeting people for immigration enforcement," Golden said. "That’s not true."
An officer guides a detained individual into a transport vehicle during an immigration enforcement operation in Florida. (Natasha Holt for Fox News Digital)
The scary part, he said, is that many illegal immigrants — including violent criminals — blend into the communities where they live and work.
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"The ones that are running around with no [traffic] violations — you might not ever see them. And they could be the worst of the worst."
Operation 9
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.
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Since October, Florida has carried out eight similar operations, Sulaiman said.
With each round, the partnerships between agencies have become increasingly efficient, because "we all have the same common goal," Sulaiman said.
And now, he added, "we don’t really go through any of the hiccups."
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As additional agencies tag along and learn, Florida’s efforts continue to expand.
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.
A law enforcement officer documents information during an immigration enforcement operation in Florida as a detained individual stands nearby in handcuffs. (Natasha Holt for Fox News Digital)
Later, most would have a choice, said Nestor Yglesias, a public affairs officer for ICE who rode along on Operation 9. They could opt for an arranged flight back home, or wait in custody for an immigration hearing.
On a case-by-case basis, ICE determines whether an immigrant headed home will pay for his or her flight out of the country or whether the U.S. government will cover the bill, Yglesias said.
Some leave with cash, up to $2,600 recently, he said. The amount varies and depends on each individual’s circumstances.
The consequences of illegal entry
Many officers who participate in immigration enforcement hail from other countries, said Sulaiman, who was born in Afghanistan.
"Since they took the proper steps to come here, they feel like everyone should," he said.
Still, some participating in Operation 9 expressed sympathy for immigrants’ desires to be here.
"I kind of feel bad for them," an officer with a Spanish accent admitted with a shrug as she turned back to her vehicle after assisting with an arrest.
Officers guide multiple detained individuals into a transport vehicle during a law enforcement operation. (Natasha Holt for Fox News Digital)
But overall, officers with Operation 9 were unapologetic about the mission.
"We treat every single person we stop with respect from the beginning," Sulaiman said.
Even after a suspect resists arrest, he said, "Once it's addressed, we'll go right back to the same level when we first started – kindness.
"We’re just doing our jobs. There’s nothing personal."
‘Trying to clean up the mess’
On Day 2 of Operation 9, officers pulled over a pickup truck with pool-cleaning tools in the back for going 11 mph over the speed limit.
The driver showed a passport from Mexico. He had been in the country for six years, Golden said. He did not have a driver’s license. That led to questions about his two passengers.
One, officers learned, was deported 22 years earlier and slipped past authorities when he returned to the United States. The other sneaked in 22 years earlier, as well, Golden said.
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Their identification was from Guatemala.
"We don't know if they have a criminal history," Golden said. "We will run that later."
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"They seem like hard-working people, but we don't know what they're doing on their free time.
"When you’re doing this job, if you let the heartstrings get to you, you’ll beat yourself up nonstop."
Golden said he understands why pangs of compassion and sympathy strike some Americans.
"Unfortunately, these people [getting arrested and deported] could be the best people in the world. But they did it the wrong way … They didn’t go through the proper steps to get into our country legally."
The number with a criminal past — often violent — in their home countries is high, Golden said.
One that haunts him came from a recent arrest: a 30-year-old accused of impregnating his 14-year-old niece.
Golden deployed multiple times to the border in Texas during the Biden administration.
Often, people caught crossing into the country were young men with plans to travel to specific cities, Golden said. To him, they didn’t sound like people leaving family to flee danger. It was maddening.
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"It was like when you have a water leak, and you just sit back, and you watch it, and don’t take any progressive action. Well, now, four years later, the floor’s ruined, the wall’s gone, and now you’re trying to clean up the mess."
As a father, he said, the scariest part is that "they don’t have a clue who’s over here."
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So when people argue that it’s wrong to deport illegal immigrants, Golden squares his jaw. He feels that he and his colleagues have a way of life to preserve, a country to save.
"The way I look at it, I’ve got a 9-year-old daughter. I’m not only doing it for me, but I’m doing it for her."
