A Florida sheriff said law enforcement is “waiting at go” to assist the Trump administration with immigration enforcement, but worries about the lack of detention capacity.
Fox News Digital spoke with Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd on the current status of President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown.
“We heard President Trump loud and clear when he said start with the worst first, and let’s get these illegal aliens out of the country,” Judd said.
However, the sheriff pointed to a significant bottleneck: the lack of federal capacity to detain migrants, and that, despite arrests, “they’re turned [migrants] back into the street” due to ICE’s limited resources.
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Judd pointed to the lack of holding facilities and the complications arising from federal rules, which generally prevent local jails from holding migrants for more than 48 hours after their release from local custody unless the jails have Intergovernmental Service Agreements (IGSAs) that allow for longer detention under federal authority.
“You see, county jails can hold them [migrants] short term if we have accompanying criminal charges, but we can’t hold them long term,” he said. “We’re more than willing to do that with the federal government once the federal government recognizes that we’re helping them — they’re not helping us.”
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The need for additional detention space and resources came as the Florida Highway Patrol (FHP) became the first in the nation to train and deploy troopers under the federal 287(g) agreement, which authorizes designated state officers to enforce immigration law in partnership with federal agents.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis says the initiative is already delivering results and believes it could serve as a blueprint for other states seeking to take immigration enforcement into their own hands.
Judd called for federal executive action, saying, “The president is the only one that can break this logjam.”
The Sunshine State, he said, is prepared to execute practical solutions, such as setting up temporary “soft side housing” for detainees, modeled after hurricane emergency shelters.
“We’re eager to make it happen. We’re sitting on go,” he said, while criticizing the lack of support. “The federal government doesn’t have the infrastructure to hold them, nor are they willing to pay when we offer the infrastructure.”
Judd defended ICE personnel, acknowledging their efforts despite what he describes as inherited limitations from the previous Biden administration.
“But they are limited,” he said. “They’re severely limited because they’re operating with the resources that the Biden administration left them with. And the Biden administration wasn’t into deporting people. They were into importing people.”
The sheriff said stricter detention policies will serve as a deterrent for migrants.
“We’ve got to stop the game playing, and only the federal government can do it,” he said.
Fox News Digital has reached out to ICE for comment.
Fox News’ Danamarie McNicholl contributed to this report.
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