Florida sheriffs propose structured path for non-criminal, undocumented immigrants

During a Monday, March 16 Florida State Immigration Enforcement Council meeting held on Microsoft Teams, Republican sheriffs pushed back on President Donald Trump’s mass deportation efforts toward undocumented immigrants without criminal records, according to the Florida Phoenix.

On Tuesday, the council’s chairman clarified in a news conference that the group supports U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement but unanimously recommends a path forward for non-criminal undocumented immigrants who contribute positively to society.

The Enforcement Council, which was enacted in February 2025, is chaired by Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd and consists of four sheriffs and four police chiefs, including Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell.

“While Congress sits on their hands and does nothing about this, we are on the ground floor with this day in and day out – looking in the eyes of these folks that, yes, came here inappropriately. But some came here inappropriately only to do better for themselves and their family,” Judd said Monday during the council’s quarterly meeting.

Judd is a leading conservative and has been an outspoken supporter of Gov. Ron DeSantis. He is not looking to give non-criminal immigrants a free pass, Judd clarified.

“We’re going to give you five years, and you’ve got to learn to speak English, you’ve got to pay a fine for coming into the country illegally, a civil fine,” Judd said. “And you’ve got to not be on the taxpayer dollar, and you’ve got to work, and you’ve got to put your kids in school. But we already know those people who are doing that and primarily going to Catholic Church … on Sunday. Those are the folks that we need in this country that we embrace, because we are a country of immigrants.

“I think a path for the good folks with a good intention, for the right reason, is reasonable,” he continued. “…There are those here that are working hard, they have kids in college, are in school, they’re going to church on Sunday, they’re not violating the law, and they’re living the American dream.”

The sheriffs agreed to jointly draft a letter to Trump and Congress urging better guidelines over which undocumented immigrants should be targeted for deportation.

“I wholeheartedly agree that Congress, they need to get off their butts, and they need to fix it,” Sheriff Prummell said at the Monday meeting. “We’re not out … just raiding business and homes, but, unfortunately, when ICE gets involved, you have the collaterals.”

The Beacon reached out to Sheriff Prummell’s office for further comment, but a spokesperson said he is currently out of town and unavailable for comment. Any response is expected when he returns next week.

Created by Senate Bill 2C and signed into law by Governor DeSantis on Thursday, Feb. 13, 2025, the State Immigration Enforcement Council 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,” according to the original release from the office of Florida Senate President Ben Albritton.

Judd held a news conference on Tuesday afternoon, during which he specified that Florida sheriffs did not “rebel against Trump’s, DeSantis’ mass deportation efforts,” [but they] “in fact support the mass deportation of illegal aliens – those that are criminals, those that have warrants of deportation, those that are here creating havoc and problems,” he said.

“If you’re here illegally and you take that risk to be here illegally, then you are going to be deported,” he continued.

Judd recapped some of Monday’s council meeting for those not in attendance, sharing that they had looked at “paths forward” for agency infrastructure and data reporting.

“I want to dispel the hyperbole that there is some break from what we should be doing or what the president of the United States and the governor has asked, that’s just not true, it’s media rhetoric” he said. “And I want to make it abundantly clear that we in Florida law enforcement wholeheartedly support and endorse ICE. We fully cooperate with them, and I might add that they fully cooperate with us.”

Judd called the “brilliantly formed” Enforcement Council a “think tank” of subject-matter experts whose purpose is to provide input, do research for and inform the Immigration and Customs Enforcement, not to make decisions or tell them what to do.

“All of this is Congress’s responsibility to sort out,” he said, “and what we suggested yesterday, there needs to be a path forward for those that are in this country – they came here illegally, they violated the federal law, but it’s a civil violation. Currently they have no criminal history, they’re not committing crime, they’re employed, they’re not on government assistance, they’re not creating problems, their children are in school. They need to be required to speak English through a program, there needs to be evidence of positive community integration into our society. But 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. And the reason for that is simple: they’re doing what’s right.”

Judd cited an example of an undocumented 40-year-old woman who was brought to the United States by her parents when she was a teenager. She is married to an American citizen, she works, does not violate the law and has no criminal history.

“That’s not the problem person,” he said. “There’s millions of problem people we need to be dealing with.”

Every member of the council who was in attendance (Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters was absent from the Monday meeting) agreed that there needs to be a path forward for non-criminal undocumented immigrants that contribute positively to society, Judd said.

“They should be fined, they should be held accountable, they should pay whatever that fine is,” he said. “But if Congress will do their job – and they’re not, and they haven’t – if Congress would do their job and deal with this group, then it frees us up to focus on those that are committing crime.”

Earlier in the day, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier commented on the effort to soften immigration enforcement during a Tuesday press conference in Orlando, while acknowledging that he did not know the full comments or context of the Monday meeting.

“I don’t write the law – I enforce it,” Uthmeier said when asked about his reaction to Judd’s comments. “If people are here illegally, then they are breaking the law, and we are going to enforce it.”

When asked about the letter that Judd and other sheriffs on the Enforcement Council planned to draft, Uthmeier said that he would not support the letter, had not seen it but would be “happy to take a look at it.”

Reports of an immigration investigation in Boca Grande on Feb. 4, 2026, were confirmed by the Charlotte County Sheriff’s Office, which assisted federal officials. There have been other reports of immigration enforcement operations both on and off island since the end of 2025.

County sheriffs cooperate with ICE officials. In February 2025, Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno signed a 287 (g) Task Force Model between ICE and the Lee County Sheriff’s office. The agreement sets forth a cooperation agreement between the Lee County Sheriff’s Office and Immigration and Customs. A similar agreement was signed between ICE and Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell in 2019.