Experts expressed astonishment that top Florida law enforcement officials urged President Donald Trump to pump the brakes on mass deportations, at least for immigrants without criminal records.
During a closed-door meeting Monday, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd, a conservative Trump favorite, dramatically broke ranks, the Florida Phoenix reported.
“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,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said Monday during a State Immigration Enforcement Council meeting.
The move marked a jarring split from Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, who has long demanded that all undocumented immigrants “need to go.” Six of eight sheriffs on the state’s immigration council backed Judd’s position, with one bluntly stating the state has cast “too wide of a net.”
Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell added bluntly: “I wholeheartedly agree that Congress, they need to get off their butts and they need to fix it. We’re not out … just raiding business and homes, but, unfortunately, when ICE gets involved, you have the collaterals.”
The sheriffs plan to jointly draft a letter to Trump and Congress demanding stricter deportation guidelines. Instead of mass removals, Judd suggested civil fines or requiring English proficiency.
The report floored immigration experts, including Abdelilah Skhir, who does policy and advocacy with Florida’s ACLU.
“This is a REALLY big deal,” he wrote on Bluesky, pointing to Judd’s quote.
Skhir added, “If you know ANYTHING about Sheriff Judd, this is shocking. The polling on this has to be in the Mariana Trench.”
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, told Skhir he was “legitimately shocked.”
“Grady Judd endorsing immigration reform and calling for the Trump admin to pull back on deportation is seismic. He is a strong Trump and DeSantis ally who has been a hardliner on immigration for years,” Reichlin-Melnick wrote on Bluesky.
Jessica Pishko, who authored a book on sheriffs and democracy titled, “The Highest Law in the Land,” wrote on Bluesky, “Deportation must be polling like turds.”
Author and political theorist Jeffery Zavadil added of Judd, “This man gets it.”
Body language expert Dr. Jack Brown chimed in on Bluesky, “Yet another sign that Republicans will only ‘find their ethics’ when they know Trump’s influence and power are waning.”
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