POLK COUNTY, Fla. (WFLA) — Two Tampa Bay Sheriffs are now serving on the newly created State Immigration Enforcement Council.

The council was created last week under the new immigration law signed by Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said the council’s role will be to provide recommendations to the board and one of those recommendations will be to better communicate with local, state, and federal agencies.

DeSantis is wasting no time.
“We have been focusing like a laser beam on immigration enforcement; the state and locals have a key role to play in assisting the Trump administration,” the governor said.
The governor said as part of the legislation, he created the Florida Immigration Board and the State Immigration Enforcement Council. The eight-member council will advise the board and two Tampa Bay sheriffs have been appointed: Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri and Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd.

“I am told there’s at least 1.4 million deportation warrants currently and ICE custody, but they don’t put them into the NCIC system, or our computer system,” Judd said. “So we could stop cars all day long and check people, but they don’t come back showing they have a deportation warrant.”

Another focus for the council will be on capacity.

“The other issue is capacity,” he said. “There’s only 2000 beds ICE beds in the state of Florida, but they estimate there’s 1.2 million illegal aliens here, and many of those are the priority and the priority are those that that are here committing crime.”

Judd said local enforcement agencies are arresting those people and then reporting them to ICE, but when ICE runs them through its system, most of the time they’re not detaining those people.

Judd said changes are needed, fast, to fix the gaps in the system, or else.
“We’re forced by law to turn these illegal immigrants with criminal charges back onto the street,” he said.

The Florida Sheriff’s Association will be meeting on Monday morning to discuss updates regarding compliance in every county jail throughout the state.

Florida Sheriffs Association President and Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, and sheriffs from across the state will be speaking on their progress and the role sheriffs have in addressing illegal immigration.