Why Florida deportation orders are surging alongside nationwide immigration court trends
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. - Deportation orders issued by immigration judges in Florida have jumped nearly 18% since March, reflecting a sweeping national rise in immigration court removals.
Florida deportation orders surge
What we know:
Immigration judges in Florida issued 5,415 removal orders in June, marking a 17.6% increase compared to 4,605 orders in March, according to data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse. The state surge matches a nationwide trend where deportation orders reached an all-time high of 79,000 in June.
In June, removal orders became the most common result in federal immigration proceedings, making up 78% of all completed cases nationwide. Out of 99,441 total cases heard across the country that month, only 1,883 immigrants received permission to remain in the U.S.
National court case trends
What we don't know:
Officials have not stated whether federal authorities plan to expand immigration court capacity or open new detention space to handle pending cases. It remains unclear if deportation volume in Florida will match steeper increases seen in other regions.
State immigration court comparison
Local perspective:
While Florida remains a top state for overall deportations, its increase lagged behind the national average surge of 30% between March and June. Other states experienced much sharper spikes, including Illinois, where removal orders climbed 120% from 3,228 to 7,087 over four months.
In Florida courts, immigrants from Guatemala received the highest number of removal orders since last October, totaling 5,027. Venezuelan natives ranked second with 4,783 orders, followed by Hondurans at 4,220 and Cubans at 4,007.
Immigrant detention center status
By the numbers:
- 35,300: Approximate total removal orders issued in Florida since last October.
- 948: Number of immigrants granted legal relief in Florida during that same time frame.
- 3,934: Total immigration detainees currently held in Florida, ranking the state fifth nationwide.
- 137,373: Pending deportation cases in Miami-Dade County, the highest volume of any immigration court nationwide.
About a quarter of the immigrants detained in Florida are held at a state-run facility in Baker County. Meanwhile, a billion-dollar tent facility located in the Everglades, known as Alligator Alcatraz, closed earlier this month after operating for nearly a year.
Federal country origin statistics
The backstory:
Nationally, Mexican citizens account for the largest share of overall removal orders, totaling 121,001 destinations since the federal fiscal year began in October. However, Haitian immigrants experienced one of the sharpest national increases, with removal orders rising 96% over four months.
That jump followed a late June U.S. Supreme Court ruling that allowed the federal administration to terminate Temporary Protected Status for Haitian and Syrian immigrants.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from data released by the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC), a non-profit organization that tracks federal immigration court records and detention figures.