Florida State Authorizes FHP to Enforce Immigration Laws at DMVs – Here’s What You Need to Know

Troopers with the Florida Highway Patrol will now be stationed at all Department of Motor Vehicles offices in Miami-Dade County.

This change comes from the Miami-Dade County Tax Collector, which is now transitioning to manage all county DMVs. Those used to be run by the state as part of the Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles.

“I spoke with the state and they’re going provide us with highway patrol in every single office because sometimes people want to do bad things, and I’m not going to allow that,” said Dariel Fernandez, the Miami-Dade County Tax Collector.

Fernandez says the presence of troopers is to ensure the safety of their facilities, DMV staff, and customers who may get rowdy in the line.

But some say there are immigration implications. ICE Miami recently arrested an undocumented immigrant for driving with a fake license, and on the same day, FHP said they are “equipped and hard at work to enforce illegal immigration laws in Florida.”

“After different executive orders from the president of the United States to try and get our gangs from the United States and people that are doing a lot of bad things, a lot of the residents have a lot of concerns about what happened with immigration, so we are the ones that issue the drivers licenses in Miami-Dade County,” Fernandez said.

Fentanyl Drug Trafficking Supplier Captured After Chase Leaves K-9 Injured

At this point, it’s unclear who will pay for these newly stationed troopers.

Gov. Ron DeSantis said earlier Friday that the state signed an agreement with the Department of Homeland Security for FHP troopers to begin enforcing immigration law.

“There may be instances when HSI (Homeland Security Investigations) determines that is it desirable for certain sworn law enforcement employees of Florida Highway Patrol to perform certain HSI duties,” the agreement read.