On Thursday morning, federal and state law enforcement officials conducted a large-scale operation at a construction site near Florida State University’s College Town in Tallahassee, detaining numerous workers involved in building a new apartment complex. Agents from U.S. Homeland Security, U.S. Marshals Service, and the Florida Highway Patrol were seen arriving around 9 a.m. and immediately beginning the enforcement action.

Witnesses at the scene told the Florida Phoenix that workers were stopped and asked to show identification before being separated into two groups. Some workers were allowed to leave, while others were handcuffed and escorted onto white buses with windows covered in metal screens. These buses were then driven away under heavy escort by the Highway Patrol. Authorities on site declined to provide further details about the raid.

Construction workers who were permitted to leave described how law enforcement quickly surrounded the site on West Gaines Street, blocking access. Dozens of detained workers were lined up by the buses, creating a tense atmosphere.

An ICE spokesperson in Tampa confirmed the operation to the Phoenix in the afternoon, saying, “U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations served multiple search warrants as part of an ongoing investigation in the Tallahassee region.” On social media, Homeland Security Investigations referred to the event as a “targeted enforcement operation.”

The agency further stated that it arrested “more than 100 illegal aliens, some previously deported and others with criminal backgrounds.” The detainees hail from countries including Mexico, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Colombia, and Honduras.

Efforts to obtain details about warrants or court proceedings from the U.S. Attorney’s office and the U.S. District Court were unsuccessful. Additionally, the Leon County Sheriff’s Office did not respond to inquiries about whether the detainees were taken to its detention facilities.

The raid drew a small group of protesters who shouted at agents, expressing outrage. “You should be ashamed of yourselves,” one bystander said, while criticizing the officers for wearing masks. Protesters reminded officers that they are “all descendants of immigrants.” Family members of those detained were also present, desperately trying to communicate and find out where their loved ones were being taken.

The manager of the construction site declined to comment, telling the Phoenix, “There’s no information” about the ongoing operation.

Layne Griffith, a 22-year-old FSU graduate student who had just completed her master’s degree in oceanography, was preparing to leave her apartment nearby when she noticed the law enforcement presence.

“So, the state trooper was kind of doing a perimeter check around the apartment buildings itself and I was curious to know what was going on, and I started to notice more of a police presence — people in camo outfits and people in masks and state troopers. I didn’t know what departments they were working for, I couldn’t tell from my apartment,” she said.

“But I started to see dozens of people at that point in handcuffs getting walked to the opposite side of the construction site and I saw them all lined up behind the prison bus and I stood out there for a while and there were more people showing up and being detained.”

Griffith also noticed the variety of agencies involved. “I saw law enforcement officers from a variety of agencies: the U.S. Marshals Service; the FBI; and ‘lots of state troopers.’”

The incident highlights ongoing federal enforcement efforts targeting undocumented workers in the construction industry, a sector that often faces scrutiny over labor practices and immigration compliance. The sizable presence of multiple law enforcement agencies indicates the significance and complexity of this operation.

Originally reported by Jay Waagmeester and Mitch Perry in Florida Phoenix.