A dozen people were detained in immigration raids in Tallahassee, state agency says

 The state says it detained a dozen people in Tallahassee who may be in the country illegally. Initial reports of potential arrests in the area started circling Monday afternoon on social media.

A spokesperson for the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles confirmed that it and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security detained 12 people.

Facebook posts Monday from users said they were either told about or spotted agents carrying out detentions at places around the city.

It comes as the Legislature was weighing bills to give local law enforcement more authority to enforce federal immigration laws and place immigration enforcement under the purview of the Florida Department of Agriculture.

The head of the motor vehicle agency is Dave Kerner, who recently backed Gov. Ron DeSantis’ push for a legislative special session on immigration.

"We are ready and willing to follow the governor's lead and work with federal partners to execute the Trump illegal immigration mandate!" the agency said in a post on X.

The Leon County Sheriff’s Office says it was not informed about the detentions.

While Florida lawmakers are in a special session on immigration, they are not taking up the immigration proposals DeSantis initially called for.

Instead, legislative leaders unveiled their own immigration proposal while simultaneously pushing back on DeSantis for what both House and Senate leaders have called "overreach." Those measures passed in late Tuesday votes.

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