The recent detention of Jacksonville coffee shop owner Diana Mejia — a Colombian immigrant awaiting permanent residency — has raised urgent questions about who is authorized to carry out immigration enforcement duties in Florida.
Mejia was taken into ICE custody following her arrest on two misdemeanor charges during a mental health crisis outside a Dollar General store in St. Augustine about 6 p.m. on Aug. 2 in the store's parking lot, despite her legal status and ongoing asylum process.
As concern grows among Mejia’s family and community over her treatment and the lack of communication during her detention, immigration advocates are now closely examining Florida’s collaboration with federal immigration authorities — particularly the role of local agencies like the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office and the extent of their power to act on behalf of ICE.
A wave of immigration detentions by the numbers
As of early June, there are 629 agreements nationwide between local law enforcement agencies and ICE — 43% of them are in Florida, far outpacing any other state, with Texas coming second at 14%
A recent ProPublica report says there have been at least 50 news reports this year of immigration officers breaking in windows to speed up arrests. The decade prior, ProPublica found just eight cases.
With an immigration wave of arrests happening in Florida and impacting local communities, it raises the question: Who can act like an ICE agent in Florida? Here’s what to know.
What was Diana Marcela Mejia-Pedraza, the Colombian coffee shop owner in Jacksonville, arrested for?
Mejia was arrested after experiencing what her family believes was a mental health crisis while at a Dollar General store in St. Johns County on August 2. According to her step-daughter Sharis Jinete, Mejia was having a panic attack and possibly a psychotic episode. The family called the police hoping Mejia would be taken to a mental health facility for evaluation and care.
“We didn’t know what else to do. She was in a public space, and we were scared about what might happen,” Jinete explained. The family felt overwhelmed and turned to law enforcement for help.
However, when sheriff’s deputies arrived, the situation escalated. According to Deputy Mallory Moyers, the arresting officer, said when she arrived, Mejia was "causing a disturbance and randomly yelling at customers to leave the store in both English and Spanish." A brief struggle followed in the store’s parking lot, and Mejia was arrested around 6 p.m.
What was Mejia charged with?
Mejia was charged with two misdemeanors: resisting an officer without violence and trespassing. Court and arrest records do not mention any request from the family for Mejia to be taken into custody under Baker Act, a law that allows individuals to be involuntarily taken to a mental health facility if they are deemed a danger to themselves or others due to mental illness.
Where is Artessence coffee shop located?
Diana Marcela Mejia, along with her husband, Jonatan Jinete, own Artessence coffee shop, is located at 1505 N. Main St. in close-knit historic Springfield near downtown Jacksonville.
Can Florida Highway State Patrol officers perform ICE immigration functions?
Yes. This spring, DeSantis and the Florida Legislature passed a law during a special session requiring all state law enforcement agencies to assist in federal immigration enforcement efforts. Soon after, Florida Highway Patrol troopers began working alongside ICE to detain immigrants during traffic stops across the state, from rural areas in the Panhandle to urban centers like Miami-Dade County.
In April, the partnership culminated in Operation Tidal Wave — a week-long sting targeting immigrants in major Florida cities including Miami, Tampa, Orlando and Jacksonville. ICE reported more than 780 arrests in the first four days and promoted the operation as a “first-of-its-kind partnership” and a “massive, multi-agency immigration enforcement crackdown.”
"There's no other state that is even in the ballpark of our efforts," DeSantis said on Aug. 1. FHP troopers already have apprehended almost 3,000 people, and the FLHSMV will soon have a strike team called "Immigration Enforcement" to increase arrests.
Can Florida local law enforcement officers perform ICE immigration functions?
Yes, depending on the type of agreement, local law enforcement can question inmates about their immigration status, serve warrants or work on task forces.
At a July 22 State Board of Immigration Enforcement meeting, officials there said all county sheriffs' offices will soon be authorized to arrest immigrants who are in the country illegally. As of today, the St. John's Sheriff's Department is active in partaking to perform ICE immigration functions.
Can St. Johns County sheriff's deputies work as ICE agents?
Yes, St. Johns County is part of the 287(g) program that allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Protection (ICE) to delegate to state and local law enforcement officers certain immigration functions, including identifying and detaining suspected illegal immigrants. While the prison in the county, home to the oldest city in the U.S., is not a federal holding site, sheriff's deputies work closely with federal officials to notify them of illegal migrants.
During an interview with Fox News, St. Johns County, Sheriff Rob Hardwick has made it clear that combating illegal immigration is a priority for his department.
Which counties are working with ICE? Search your county below
The ICE 287(g) agreements have three models local law enforcement can choose to participate in:
Jail Enforcement Model: The model is designed to identify and process undocumented residents – with pending criminal charges – who are arrested by state or local law enforcement agencies.
Task Force Model: Allows local law enforcement to enforce limited immigration authority with ICE oversight during their routine police duties. Local agents are supposed to receive 40 hours of online training to participate.
Warrant Service Officer program: Allows ICE to train, certify and authorize state and local law enforcement officers to serve and execute administrative warrants on undocumented persons in the agency’s jail.
How long has the program been around?
Local law enforcement have been participating in the 287(g) Program since 2002. The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 authorizes the collaboration between federal immigration authorities and local police agencies. In its beginning years, the program focused on detaining and deporting undocumented immigrants with criminal records, CBS reported.
As the program expanded, local agencies began using the partnership to detain as many undocumented immigrants as possible, according to CBS. There were no new agreements made between December 2020 and February 2025 during former President Biden's administration.
A record number of state and local agencies have signed onto the program since Trump took office this year.
Pushback against the program
Critics say the program harms immigrant communities. ProPublica reported that the 287(g) Program has been accused of increasing racial profiling and creating fear among immigrant communities who may be reluctant to report crimes.
The program has faced criticism from the federal government as well. A 2018 internal watchdog report from the Department of Homeland Security concluded that the program does not adequately train and supervise local agencies. And a 2021 report from the Government Accountability Office said ICE failed to establish performance goals for the program such as measuring oversight of local law enforcement agency partners, according to the American Immigration Council.
An investigation by the Department of Justice found that local law enforcement in North Carolina and Arizona engaged in patterns of constitutional violations after entering an agreement with the 287(g) program.
Contributing: Sara Chernikoff, USA TODAY; Ramon Padilla, USA TODAY; Teresa Stepzinski Florida Times-Union
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Can Florida Highway Patrol and local police make arrests like ICE?
Comments