A Republican sheriff who is known for his tough stance on illegal immigration reiterated his support of federal deportation efforts but suggested giving "a path forward" to immigrants without legal status who are "not creating problems."
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd chairs the State Immigration Enforcement Council, which was created last year to oversee the state's ramp-up on immigration enforcement.
During a meeting on Monday, Judd, as well other sheriffs and police chiefs on the council, discussed needing a more focused approach to immigration — one that targets those with a criminal background and potentially offers relief to those who don't.
The council, which includes four sheriffs and four police chiefs, agreed to draft a letter about the issue to Congress and the White House.
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Naples Police Chief Ciro Dominguez agreed with Judd during the meeting, saying current enforcement has cast "too wide a net, and we're hurting people who are not the target of this entire operation."
The statements from Judd and other council members seemed to contradict the views of the state's Republican leaders, who in general, had been in lockstep with the Trump administration's efforts of mass deportation.
But during Tuesday's news conference, Judd dismissed those claims, arguing that his position is not contrary to "the overwhelming majority of the people in the state of Florida, the overwhelming majority of the people that are Republicans, that are Democrats, that are independents, that aren't registered."
"This is not some epiphany from above all of a sudden, this is common sense of what's happening here," said Judd.
He said he's spoken with Republican leaders and local business owners who support some sort of reprieve for immigrants without legal status who have lived a significant amount of time in the U.S. and have not committed crimes.
Judd likened local law enforcement officers to "subject matter experts" whose purpose is to provide feedback to the state's Immigration Enforcement Council Board, which is made up of the governor, the state's attorney general, chief financial officer and the agriculture commissioner.
"There's two lifetimes worth of work for law enforcement to deal with them. Those people who are adding to the American dream and enjoying the American dream that came here illegally, I might add, but they're doing good, and they're not a drag on society — they're, in fact, helping society — we need to find a path for them."
"We deal with the local issues at eye level, face-to-face, and our decision makers in Tallahassee and Washington don't have that opportunity," said Judd.
Judd says about 76% of the immigration detainers his office has requested from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are for those with accompanying criminal charges.
Local law enforcement agencies use ICE detainers to hold people suspected of being in the country illegally until federal immigration agents are able to transfer them into their custody.
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Judd called the remaining 24% "collaterals" who "in most of those cases ... hung out with somebody committing crime when we had the opportunity to engage them, and they were in the country illegally."
Judd said law enforcement are "overrun with arresting those that are violating the law."
"There's two lifetimes worth of work for law enforcement to deal with them," said Judd. "Those people who are adding to the American dream and enjoying the American dream that came here illegally, I might add, but they're doing good, and they're not a drag on society — they're, in fact, helping society — we need to find a path for them."
Judd denied using the word "amnesty," and said he believed those who "violated civil federal law" should still be fined and be required to "speak English through a program" and there "needs to be evidence of positive community integration into our society."
To illustrate his point, Judd spoke about a 40-year-old woman brought to the U.S. illegally as a teenager.
"She's married to an American, she works, she doesn't violate the law. She has no criminal history. She's not currently violating any laws," he said. "She's adding to society. That's not the problem person."
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