Grady Judd, Florida sheriffs crack down on illegal immigration: ‘The game has changed’

WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd joined sheriffs across the state on Monday morning to discuss illegal immigration.

Tackling illegal immigration

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Judd, along with Florida Sheriffs Association President and Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri and sheriffs from across Florida, spoke about three programs under 287g that will allow deputies and corrections officers at jails in Florida to undergo training and be certified to serve warrants, make probable cause arrests and take part in street tasks forces.

Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said that the training for the warrant service officer program takes about four hours, but the other training, which used to take about a month, will now take about five days.

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"We don’t need to turn cops into immigration officers," Gualtieri stated. "We need to know enough to be effective and to let them do their job."

How will deputies and corrections officers help with illegal immigration?

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The sheriff added that it means when someone is arrested and booked into jail, if they have a detainer on them, ICE is notified. When that person is ready to leave the jail, staff can serve that warrant on them and hold them for an extra 48 hours and then ICE comes and takes them into custody.

The next step is the Street Task Force Program. This allows state and local law enforcement some of the powers of ICE out on the street. As they are doing their normal duties, and they come across illegal immigrants with detainers, they are able to do those investigations and turn them over to ICE.

What they're saying:

"Illegal immigration is a problem," Gualtieri added. "It’s not just a federal problem. It’s a problem for all of us. It impacts every village, every town, every county, and every state in America. It’s a problem for a number of reasons, but at the forefront are criminal illegals, those in our country who illegally wreak havoc in our communities, who victimize our citizens by selling their dope, stealing, molesting kids and killing people. This is wrong. It’s not okay."

READ: Illegal immigrant takes plea deal in connection with death of Pinellas County deputy

"There’s also no room for discussion about the 1.4 million people in our country today with an active, final deportation order issued by a judge, who also issued a warrant for their removal and these people flicked their finger at the court, and they haven’t left."

What is the priority?

Why you should care:

He added that the federal government’s priority is apprehending and deporting as quickly as possible those who are criminal illegals, safety threats, national security threats, those who have been previously deported and come back again and those who are ignoring a judge’s order to leave after they had their day in court.

According to Gualtieri, sheriffs work closely with ICE now and ICE’s most pressing need is for the sheriff's office to deliver people who are booked into jails who are clearly illegal and have clearly committed a crime, so that they are deported and not released back into the community.

Grady Judd, Florida sheriffs discuss immigration

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and sheriffs from across Florida hold a press conference on illegal immigration.

"This is a big deal because it means criminals like these, people who kill people, people who steal, people who break into people’s houses, people who rape kids will be deported directly from jail and not released back to the street where ICE, or us helping ICE have to track them down. It just makes sense, from the jail out of here as opposed to from the jail back to the street," Gualtieri said.

Local perspective:

Currently, there are about 150 people in the Pinellas County Jail of people who are charged with crimes, who are in the country illegally and for whom there is an ICE detainer, according to the sheriff.

What they're saying:

"If you are part of the 1.4 million that have one of these warrants outstanding, and you are here illegally, and you went through the process, and you went before a judge and a judge gave you your day in court, you had your trial, and a judge said, ‘I’m determining alienage. I’m determining you don’t qualify for anything. You’ve extended and overstayed your welcome here. I’m issuing a warrant, a court order that says you need to go.' Why don’t you get out? If you are one of those people, you should absolutely expect that if you come in contact with a law enforcement officer, we are going to help you get out of here. That’s not what you do in America. You don’t thumb your nose. You don’t stick your finger up at the court system and judicial system or criminal system, or justice system because most of that’s civil," Gualtieri stated.

Judd noted that the priority is criminal illegal immigrants and those who have deportation orders.

"If you are here illegally, we are going to boot your butt out of this country if you’ve committed crimes and are committing crimes," Judd said. "Quit scaring everybody who is here legally and illegally that aren’t committing crimes that we are going to run through their school, hospitals or through their neighborhoods, that’s not it. We’ve got a plate full of illegal immigrants committing crime and warrants to deport those that have flaunted the system and all this crazy talk scares people that don’t need to be scared."

The sheriffs expect to overwhelm the system rapidly and are calling on the federal government to help create space to hold people on ICE detainers.

"There's not capacity in the Florida Sheriffs or the county jails of this state to make any negligible difference," Judd said. "We've got to have the federal government create capacity."

Gualtieri says some of the housing will be a several-day period, while other housing will be needed for more long-term use. Several Florida sheriffs said they have adequate staffing, but that bed space is going to fill up quickly.

The FSA says it hopes to have this program operational in every jail in the state within several weeks.

Last week, Judd and Gualtieri were appointed to advise the Florida cabinet on immigration enforcement.

What is the State Immigration Enforcement Council?

The backstory:

The State Immigration Enforcement Council was created by Senate Bill 2C, which Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law earlier this month.

It is a body of appointed law enforcement officers who will assist the cabinet (State Board of Immigration Enforcement) by providing insight and feedback regarding the enforcement of federal immigration law.

READ: Keefe tapped to head immigration enforcement

The council is made up of eight members, including four police chiefs, with the governor, commissioner of agriculture, attorney general, and chief financial officer each appointing one police chief; and four sheriffs, with the president of the senate and the speaker of the house each appointing two sheriffs.

The Source: This story was written with information provided by the Polk County Sheriff's Office.

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