Maritime Frontlines: Border Tour Highlights

The latest episode of the Center for Immigration Studies Podcast highlights the 13th Annual Border Tour. For the first time, the tour shifted away from land borders, bringing participants to South Florida to examine America’s maritime boundaries and the unique challenges they present.

Hosted with assistance from Anthony Coker, Gov. Ron DeSantis’s “immigration czar”, the tour offered an in-depth look at Florida’s highly coordinated, “all-of-government” approach to immigration enforcement. Participants observed firsthand the seamless collaboration between federal and state agencies operating under 287(g) authority, which allows state and local officers to carry out certain federal immigration functions.

The tour began with a roundtable of federal and state partners, underscoring the strength of these relationships. Attendees later joined the Florida Highway Patrol on a ride-along, witnessing real-time coordination with ICE, including routine traffic stops that included high-speed pursuits and arrests of illegal aliens, one of whom was a convicted murderer.

Participants also joined Florida Fish and Wildlife officers and State Guard units on the water, where maritime enforcement operations are supported by radar systems capable of monitoring activity as far as the Bahamas.

A visit to the state-run detention facility known as “Alligator Alcatraz” highlighted both operational capacity and humanitarian standards, including comprehensive medical care for detainees.

The tour concluded with visits to an immigration court and a naturalization ceremony, where Mark Krikorian delivered the keynote address, offering a powerful reminder of the legal immigration process and the meaning of American citizenship.

Florida’s model demonstrates how strong leadership and interagency cooperation can deliver effective, large-scale immigration enforcement.

Host

Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies.

Guests

Marguerite Telford is the Director of Communications at the Center for Immigration Studies.

John Wahala is the Assistant Director at the Center for Immigration Studies.

Related

Inside Florida’s Alligator Alcatraz Detention Center

Gov. Ron DeSantis on Florida’s Gold Standard Immigration Enforcement Model

Intro Montage

Voices in the opening montage:

• Sen. Barack Obama at a 2005 press conference.
• Sen. John McCain in a 2010 election ad.
• President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the 1965 Immigration Act.
• Booker T. Washington, reading in 1908 from his 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech.
• Laraine Newman as a "Conehead" on SNL in 1977.
• Hillary Clinton in a 2003 radio interview.
• Cesar Chavez in a 1974 interview.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking to reporters in 2019.
• Prof. George Borjas in a 2016 C-SPAN appearance.
• Sen. Jeff Sessions in 2008 comments on the Senate floor.
• Candidate Trump in 2015 campaign speech.
• Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes".