PALM BEACH COUNTY, Fla. — The Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Department has encountered more suspected undocumented migrants in Palm Beach County over the last six months than any other county in the state, according to data from the State Board of Immigration Enforcement.
WATCH BELOW: Palm Beach County leads Florida in suspected undocumented migrant encounters in last 6 months
State data said there have been 1,548 migrant encounters in Palm Beach County since Aug. 1.
Below is a breakdown of encounters in Palm Beach County by agency:
- Florida Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Department: 1,113
- Palm Beach County Sheriff's Office: 366
- Jupiter Police Department: 36
- Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission: 21
- Boynton Beach Police Department: 7
- Department of Financial Services, Criminal Investigations Division: 3
- Coconut Creek Police Department: 1
- Palm Beach County School Board: 1
State data said there have been a total of 14,467 encounters with suspected undocumented migrants in Florida since Aug. 1, 2025, with 11,808 arrests and 7,748 arrests from 287(g) agreements
The 287 (g) agreements allow state and local law enforcement officers to enforce the county's immigration laws, which are normally the responsibility of federal agencies like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol.
This allows local law enforcement to act as a force multiplier and detain more migrants.
According to court records, highway troopers are detaining people after responding to car crashes on the state's highways.
In one case, WPTV found troopers responded to a car crash on Interstate 95, then detained the driver after checking Border Patrol's records and citing him with a variety of traffic citations.
Richard Hubjer, an immigration attorney, said enforcing immigration laws this way leads to people not calling law enforcement for help.
"People don’t want to call the police," Hubjer said. "People take off from scenes of accidents, which I see a lot more of and I've seen for years. But, it's certainly going to start gauging up more of the fear of reaching out…People don’t want to make the phone calls when they know that can be the result."
According to the state's database, almost 90% of the people encountered are male, and less than 1% have an affiliation with a gang. The database also said most encounters over the last six months were from Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras.
