JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — 1,100 suspected illegal immigrants have been arrested in the Sunshine State over the past week as part of Operation Tidal Wave, the State of Florida and the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency announced Thursday.
Officials described it as one of the largest joint immigration enforcement efforts involving local, state and federal law enforcement in the nation’s history.
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“We have a Mexican national taken into custody whose history includes kidnapping and we also have Columbian nationals who were convicted of murder,” said ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan.
While officials focused on the 378 people arrested with alleged long or violent criminal histories, the vast majority of those caught up in the operation don’t necessarily fit that bill.
Jacksonville resident Nicole, who asked only to use her first name, told Action News Jax her husband, Marcio, who is a Brazilian national, was one of them.
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Nicole, who is a US citizen, said her husband was arrested by ICE agents on his way to work last Thursday.
It was just two weeks after the birth of their first child.
“I just started crying and I felt in that moment that the world, it was ending for me,” said Nicole.
Nicole told Action News Jax Marcio entered the country without documentation in 2005.
The couple met while taking English classes at UNF and married in 2016.
Action News Jax was able to confirm Marcio has no criminal history, just a 2018 traffic violation.
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Nicole said her husband has owned and operated a local granite business for years.
“And he regrets to this day the way that he entered this country. That’s why we have been fighting and trying so hard, trying to get a legal status for him,” said Nicole.
Marcio’s attorney told Action News Jax, while he did have an outstanding removal order, the couple has been working for the last few years to obtain a waiver that would allow Marcio to go back to Brazil and return to the US legally with a green card.
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Nicole said her husband is currently being held in a detention center in Texas, as the couple attempts to get a stay of removal.
If that fails, Nicole said she’ll have to move to Brazil, as they wait for their waiver to be approved and allow them to return home to Jacksonville.
“But that is not something that I want to do right now, because this is our home. This country is what we call home and here is where we want to stay,” said Nicole.
And based on comments made by officials Thursday, we can expect to see more large-scale immigration sweeps, with the Executive Director of Florida’s State Board of Immigration Enforcement saying this morning Operation Tidal Wave was a “warmup.”
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