The University of Florida has joined the list of Florida higher education institutions that are working with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to enforce immigration on campus, officials told CBS News on Saturday.
“We can confirm that we have signed the 287(g) agreement,” a UF spokesperson told CBS News. Gov. Ron DeSantis issued the agreement in February, allowing law enforcement to act as immigration officers.
It was unclear who at the University of Florida would serve as immigration officers under this agreement, and the school’s spokesperson did not provide any additional information. They did, however, confirm that eight students’ visas had been revoked.
According to a February statement from DeSantis, the agreement allows local officers to question those they suspect of being in the country illegally and “serve and execute arrest warrants for immigration violations.”
Representatives from Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton and the University of South Florida in Tampa have confirmed to The Associated Press that the schools are seeking to deputize their campus police for immigration enforcement.
FAU spokesperson Joshua Glanzer stated that “all state schools” in Florida are expected to pursue expanded immigration enforcement authority.
“We are simply following guidance from the Governor’s Feb. 19 directive to state law enforcement agencies, of which FAUPD and other state university police departments are included,” Glanzer told reporters.
Under a 287(g) task force model, such as the one being pursued by the University of Florida, participating officers would be authorized to question “any alien or person believed to be an alien” about their right to remain in the country, as well as to make arrests without a warrant in some cases.
The Trump administration has continued to target foreign nationals who attend universities in the United States.
On Friday, an immigration judge in Louisiana allowed the Trump administration to proceed with its efforts to deport Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil, upholding one of the government’s deportation grounds.
Khalil, a vocal member of Columbia University’s protests against the war in Gaza, was arrested by ICE in early March outside his New York City apartment, where he lived with his pregnant US citizen wife.