ICE, Florida officers nab nearly 800 illegal aliens in ‘tidal wave’ dragnet

President Donald Trump's Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested nearly 800 illegal aliens in just the first four days of its multiagency Florida operation.

On Saturday, ICE shared news of the massive ongoing crackdown effort dubbed "Operation Tidal Wave."

'They encountered these criminal aliens out and about during their regular duties, and they're able to go ahead and identify those public safety threats for us.'

"In a first-of-its-kind partnership between state and federal partners, ICE Miami and Florida law enforcement arrested nearly 800 illegal aliens this week during the first four days of #OperationTidalWave — a massive, multi-agency, immigration enforcement crackdown," ICE wrote in a post on social media.

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Fox News' Bill Melugin revealed additional details about the raids, noting that agents arrested a convicted murderer and gang members.

Jose Sanchez Reyes, a Colombian national, was reportedly arrested by ICE. He was previously convicted of homicide in Colombia.

Rafael Juarez Cabrera, a Guatemalan national, was also arrested. He illegally entered the U.S. several times and is reportedly a known MS-13 gang member.

Melugin reported that ICE nabbed Savva Klishchevskii, a Russian national who currently has an Interpol Red Notice for alleged vehicular manslaughter.

Aron Isaak Morazan-Izaguirre, a Honduran national, was detained as well, according to Melugin. He is a suspected 18th Street gang member.

"Operation Tidal Wave is still ongoing, as Florida continues to partner tightly with ICE to cooperate with and enhance the Trump administration's mass deportation agenda," Melugin wrote.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (R) responded to Melugin, stating, "Operation Tidal Wave is an example of FL and [Department of Homeland Security] partnering to deliver big results on immigration enforcement and deportations."

"Florida is leading the nation in active cooperation with the Trump administration for immigration enforcement and deportation operations!" DeSantis said.

According to the New York Times, ICE arrested "about 780 immigrants" during the first several days of the operation, which began last Monday.

Operation Tidal Wave targeted those with final deportation orders, an ICE official told the news outlet. Over 275 of the illegal aliens had final removal orders.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons told ABC News that the operation was significant "because it's the first of its kind."

"We have surged all our federal partners together along with Homeland Security Investigations and Enforcement [and] Removal Operations, which are all the enforcement arms of ICE, but we're also using all our 287(g) partners in the state of Florida. We're using state, local, and county law enforcement agencies to assist us in our operations," Lyons explained.

The Immigration and Nationality Act Section 287(g) authorizes ICE to delegate state and local law enforcement to perform certain immigration enforcement functions. Newsweek reported that nearly 230 Florida law enforcement agencies have 287(g) agreements with ICE.

"So this is one of the first large-scale missions we've done like this ever," Lyons told ABC News. "We brought a 'whole the government' approach with cooperative jurisdictions that want to help ICE secure communities in neighborhoods and remove public safety threats from our neighborhoods."

"State troopers, local police officers, county sheriffs — they're our eyes and ears," he continued. "They encountered these criminal aliens out and about during their regular duties, and they're able to go ahead and identify those public safety threats for us."

ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan told ABC News that the federal agency's partnerships with local law enforcement agencies will continue.

"We've seen historic partnerships with the state of Texas that has been going on and being able to expand. We've seen historic partnerships in Virginia as well as many other states that are coming to the table, even states that you wouldn't necessarily always think of as border states," Sheahan stated.

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