Florida and California have been thrust into the spotlight when it comes to immigration enforcement.
Republican-led Florida has embraced President Donald Trump's initiative to crack down on illegal immigration, whereas Democratic-led California has taken more of a hands-off approach.
For instance, Gov. Ron DeSantis has led the charge to fulfill the president's immigration enforcement policies. Meanwhile, Marines were sent to California without authorization from Gov. Gavin Newsom.
On "The Florida Roundup," host Tom Hudson connected with Alexis Madrigal of KQED in San Francisco and NPR's Jasmine Garsd for a cross-country conversation regarding immigration tactics.
Garsd said that she's spent the past two years traveling throughout the Sunshine State speaking to immigrant communities and reporting on different policies. She added that if you want to know where the country is heading in terms of immigration policy, look toward Florida.
"I think Florida is like a testing ground for national immigration policy. It's like a blueprint. Nothing happens in Florida in an isolated manner," Garsd said.
But how do some of these policies and views compare?
ICE raids and detention facilities
KQED's Alexis Madrigal in San Fransico said that one of the biggest immigration stories in California was the ICE raids in Los Angeles. NPR reported in June, federal agents arrested more than 40 people in workplace raids.
In Florida, there have been crackdowns like "Operation Tidal Wave." This was a weeklong operation that resulted in 1,120 arrests. Florida officials said it was the largest number in a single state in one week in ICE's history.
But Garsd said following the heavy ICE presence in L.A. this summer, there were federal court orders that said people cannot be detained based on race and ethnicity.
ALSO READ: Supreme Court allows Trump administration to resume immigration raids in L.A.
This has since changed temporarily.
"The Supreme Court reversed it a couple of weeks ago, saying that, yes, ICE agents can consider race, ethnicity, language," Garsd said. "They can consider speaking with an accent and also profession."
This only applies to Los Angeles, she said, but signals this could be the direction the country is headed when it comes to enforcement.
"It is really a tone shift that people should be paying attention to — especially as we are seeing ICE conducting similar operations now in Chicago and in Washington, D.C," Garsd said.
But Madrigal brought up how different other parts of California, such as San Francisco, have felt from L.A. when it comes to immigration.
"And the big question for us up here, I think, is why that is? We're not exactly sure," Madrigal said. "I think even immigration advocates, state legislators and all these folks are kind of still curious."
Madrigal speculated that a reason could potentially be the lack of detention facilities in Northern California.
There are facilities in the state, though. KQED reported this month that the state's biggest immigration detention center recently opened in California's Mojave Desert. In addition, for most of the year, ICE has held roughly 3,600 people a day on average across its six other facilities.
In Florida, officials are actively working to build more detention centers in different regions across the state.
For example, there's the detention center in the Florida Everglades dubbed "Alligator Alcatraz." It's made up mostly of tents and trailers and was built in a matter of days. It has faced several legal challenges and has been winding down. However, the state is accepting detainees at a repurposed prison in Baker County.
Involvement of local police
In Florida, one of the changes involved deputizing local law enforcement — oftentimes through a formal program with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It's called a 287g agreement and is part of a federal statute.
This allows local law enforcement agencies to enforce certain levels of immigration law. For example, in some cases, transferring someone in custody in a county jail into ICE custody.
Hudson said Florida is responsible for about a third of all law enforcement 287g agreements.
But California is an outlier and does not participate in it, he added. In addition, that state's legislature passed a bill called the "No Secret Police Act" prohibiting law enforcement from concealing their faces with extreme masking except in certain cases, like riot gear. The Department of Homeland Security last week called on Gov. Newsom to veto the bill.
But according to NPR, Gov. Newsom signed the bill over the weekend, calling masking "a new construct conceived to terrorize our diverse communities."
ALSO READ: Immigration arrests are up nationwide. Here's a look at Florida's numbers
Based on arrest numbers, the agreements may be making a difference when it comes to aiding the Trump administration's mass deportation goal, Madrigal said.
WUSF's Nancy Guan reported in July that data shows Florida is second in the nation when it comes to the daily arrest rate of 64 since Jan. 20. Texas led with 142 daily arrests.
"But reading about the way that Florida and Texas have really deported so many more people, even given all the theater and reality of what happened in Los Angeles, it seems to say that these long-standing agreements between federal immigration enforcement and local agencies does in fact have a real and tangible effect on how many people get deported," Madrigal said.
Stances from governors
From the beginning, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis vowed to lead the nation when it came to immigration enforcement. In February, the Associated Press reported how he signed a sweeping package of bills to help support the president's mass deportation agenda.
DeSantis said the bills made Florida have the strictest laws of any state. And ahead of "Alligator Alcatraz's" opening, the governor reiterated the importance of leading the way.
"I think it's going to ultimately be the case that other states start to follow through a little bit more like Florida is," he said.
ALSO READ: DeSantis signs sweeping bills to beef up immigration enforcement in Florida
Madrigal said Gov. Newsom has not been out front when it comes to immigration.
"Immigration has long been kind of a complex issue for him. On the other hand, he really has held the line with Democrats in the legislature here in California," Madrigal said.
Newsome released a statement condemning the immigration raids in LA.
"Continued chaotic federal sweeps, across California, to meet an arbitrary arrest quota are as reckless as they are cruel," Newsom said. "Donald Trump's chaos is eroding trust, tearing families apart, and undermining the workers and industries that power America's economy."
He also said in an X post that: "Immigrants power California's economy and keep our state moving. Indiscriminately targeting them is not only cruel but illegal, and Californians aren't buying it."
This story was compiled from interviews conducted by Tom Hudson for "The Florida Roundup."
Copyright 2025 WUSF 89.7