Florida Blames Human Error for U.S. Citizens on Immigration Dashboard

After data mysteriously disappeared from a Florida dashboard documenting immigration arrests and encounters, the state placed the blame on human error.

Earlier this month, New Times reported that figures for U.S. citizen arrests and encounters on Florida’s Suspected Unauthorized Alien Encounters dashboard changed significantly after the publication contacted the Florida State Board of Immigration Enforcement, Gov. Ron DeSantis’ office, and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), about why U.S. citizens had been arrested.

The dashboard records law enforcement encounters with suspected undocumented immigrants since August 1. The data is broken down by demographics and which agencies are arresting and encountering suspected illegal migrants. On October 14, the dashboard reported that 21 U.S. citizens were charged and arrested, while nine others had encounters with law enforcement but were not arrested. The next day, the dashboard showed only two reported encounters with U.S. citizens and just one citizen arrested.

While the vanishing data raised alarm bells for immigration advocates, considering the state removed contracts for Alligator Alcatraz subcontractors from a public database, the state maintains that the missing data was nothing nefarious. In a statement to New Times, FDLE said law enforcement agencies were mistakenly pressing “United States” instead of “Unknown” when reporting the country of citizenship.

“We appreciate this matter being brought to our attention,” FDLE wrote in an email to New Times. “Encounters with United States citizens are not entered into the dashboard. The errors occurred because local law enforcement officers were inadvertently selecting ‘United States’ because the category ‘Unknown’ was directly beneath ‘United States.’ We have removed the category of ‘United States, so this error does not occur again.”

As of October 27, local and state law enforcement have reported 6,128 encounters with suspected illegal immigrants. There have been 4,944 people arrested on federal immigration charges or state and local charges. The dashboard also shows one encounter with a U.S. citizen. Meanwhile, there have been 115 encounters with migrants whose country of origin is unknown.

The Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles reports the highest number of encounters statewide. Florida Highway Patrol officers have arrested 2,417 people, according to the dashboard. Almost 90 percent of the arrests conducted by FHP involved federal immigration charges.