MIAMI BEACH, Fla.—They say breaking up is hard to do.
But at least one legendary, spring-break travel destination for college students is saying to once-loved seasonal visitors: “It’s not us. It’s you. We just want different things.”
After last year’s spring break lawlessness—shootings, stampedes, drunken brawls, gang clashes—Miami Beach officials, residents, and business owners said: “Enough!”
Now, they’re broadcasting the message that their city is “breaking up with spring break.”
They’re enacting tough new policies to tamp down on spring break shenanigans … before they start this year.
At a press conference in Miami Beach on March 5, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced he’ll help in that city and other beachside locales around the state by deploying law enforcement personnel and “tactical assets.”
Law enforcement officers will flood into Miami Beach and other popular spring break destinations around the state, Daytona Beach and Panama City Beach.
“Florida is a very welcoming state,” Mr. DeSantis said. “We welcome people to come and have a good time.”
Indeed, for generations, young people have descended on Miami Beach and other cities along the state’s coastlines to bask on white-sand beaches and revel in oceanside nightlife.
Spring break season typically begins in the first week of March and runs through early April, as colleges schedule a weeklong pause in classes but at different times.
“What we don’t welcome is criminal activity,” Mr. DeSantis said. “What we don’t welcome is mayhem and people that want to wreak havoc on our communities.
“Make no mistake about it,” he warned, with more than two dozen law enforcement officers standing behind him.
‘Everyone ... Hates Spring Break’
Miami Beach Mayor Steven Meiner was elected in November 2023 after running on the promise he’d restore “law and order” to the city of almost 81,000, he told attendees at the press conference at the local convention center.“There were some people—people who were friends of mine, supporters—who said, ‘Maybe you should tone it down a little bit. It’s a little strong,’” he said.
“I said, ‘That’s exactly the point. We want to be strong. We want to be strong and send that message!’”
It has even broadcast the message on a billboard truck with an LED video screen as it drives through areas tourists frequent.
The video message lists measures the city is taking to keep things from getting out of control over spring break: curfews, security searches, bag checks, officers on patrol, sobriety checks for drivers, blocked roads, arrests for drug possession and violence, and increased parking fees.
The city also is making short-term rentals illegal and will close access to beaches at 6 p.m.
What’s known as the season’s first “high-impact weekend” begins on March 7. During last year’s revelry, local police made almost 500 arrests and seized about 100 guns.
That’s why even people who make their living from the tourist trade are happy about the changes, residents of the area told The Epoch Times.
Michael Wells, who lives in nearby Miami, helps keep streets clean for the sanitation department of the City of Miami Beach.
He paused from sweeping leaves from the curb into a trash container to share how bad spring break behavior has become.
“I see it every year,“ he told The Epoch Times. ”Every year, we get worse and worse.”
When his son visited Miami Beach during a previous spring break, he warned him about the dangers. When the pop-pop-pop of gunfire pierced the night air, the young man took flight and vowed not to return, he said.
“Everyone who lives here hates spring break,” Ebed, a longtime Uber driver in the city, told The Epoch Times.
Sure, having tourists flood the city is good for business, he admitted.
“But it’s not worth it. It’s not safe.”
Robyn Lemon traveled from Vancouver, Canada to Miami Beach in March 2023 to attend a flower show. The appearance of lawlessness in the city during the day was sometimes frightening, she said.
“And we didn’t go out at all when it was dark because of what was going on.”
Law-and-Order State
During the press conference, Mr. DeSantis also expressed frustration over federal policies that make it difficult to have illegal immigrants detained after they’re arrested in Florida.“Over the weekend, we had to really pull teeth to be able to get the federal government to detain an illegal alien who was apprehended in South Florida,” he said.
“It was a relatively minor offense, and they had held him for as long as they could, but he was wanted on charges involving rape and sexual abuse in Oregon. And Oregon did not want to accept this individual.”
Finally, after state agency directors and the director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) got involved, the man was held.
“The plan was just to release him on the streets of Florida,” Mr. DeSantis said. “Well, that is unacceptable. And so we fought back.”
He asked rhetorically: “How pathetic is it that we’re in a situation in this country where there would even be a question that you would release on the street somebody illegally in this country, to begin with, but then is facing sexual assault charges in another state?”
But, he said: “In spite of what the federal government may do, what other states may do, other localities may do, we’re a law-and-order state.”
