Undocumented Immigrants in Florida Can Now Be Arrested for Driving Without a Valid Driver's License, Other Minor Offenses Under New Policy

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Undocumented immigrants in Florida can now be arrested and jailed for driving without a valid driver's license and other minor offenses under new guidance issued to state troopers.

The Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) has instructed officers to take individuals into custody in such cases and deliver them to county jails, where they may be flagged for deportation, according to a memo obtained by The Miami Herald

"Every effort should be made to take the subject into custody and deliver them to a county jail," Bill Milton, chief attorney for the Florida Highway Patrol, wrote in the memo. Once booked, troopers are directed to alert jail personnel if the individual is wanted by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), potentially facilitating federal immigration enforcement efforts.

The memo reported by The Miami Herald also states that troopers can detain individuals who are not suspected of committing a crime for up to an hour if they are flagged in a national crime database as having civil immigration warrants.

"Prolonging a traffic stop without reasonable suspicion of a crime is a violation of the 4th Amendment," Alana Greer, director of the Community Justice Project, told the Florida news outlet. She referenced a 2015 Supreme Court ruling that found even a seven-to-eight-minute delay in a traffic stop to be unconstitutional.

While Florida troopers do not yet have the federal authority to enforce immigration laws, the memo instructs them to make arrests for unrelated offenses such as reckless driving or outstanding criminal warrants. This approach aligns with Governor Ron DeSantis' push to integrate state law enforcement into immigration enforcement efforts.

"Florida is setting the example for states in combating illegal immigration and working with the Trump Administration to restore the rule of law," DeSantis stated in a February 19 press release.

Despite the efforts to push such measures, Florida's Highway Patrol faces considerable staffing and funding shortages, as local WFSU Public Media reports. Paul Novack, a member of the FHP Advisory Council, has called for $70 million in additional funding to support recruitment and retention. "State troopers need to be compensated fairly," Novack told WFSU, noting that low pay has contributed to a staffing shortage of several hundred officers.

The Miami Herald reported back on January 30 that the Florida Police Benevolent Association, which represents FHP troopers, has warned that without increased funding, officers would be "hard pressed" to take on additional immigration enforcement duties. William Smith, the association's president, stated, He noted that FHP had roughly 150 vacancies and that the department requested $12 million in the 2025-26 budget to raise salaries and hire more troopers.

Despite these challenges, DeSantis signed an agreement with ICE in late January, allowing FHP troopers to be deputized to perform some federal immigration enforcement functions.