ICE tripled its arrests in Florida last year – and one in four of the people they grabbed had no criminal record whatsoever.
Trump promised to deport the worst of the worst.
Now the sheriffs he trusted to enforce that promise are telling him ICE lost the thread.
Florida's Toughest Sheriff Just Called Out the Problem
Grady Judd chairs the Florida State Immigration Enforcement Council – the body DeSantis created specifically to make Florida the most aggressive immigration enforcement state in America.
He's not soft on immigration.
Last year, Judd asked Trump to sign more executive orders to accelerate deportations.
But on Monday, Judd told the council that ICE isn't deporting the mentally ill or those with serious challenges.
Instead, he said, agents are removing people who are "healthy and can work."
"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," Judd said.
At least six of the eight sheriffs on the council agreed.
One said Florida has cast "too wide of a net." Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell was blunter: "When ICE gets involved, you have the collaterals."
The Numbers Back Judd Up
ICE made 20,629 arrests in Florida between January and October of last year – nearly 77 per day.
About a quarter of those people had no criminal record beyond an immigration violation.
https://twitter.com/10TampaBay/status/2033947729114665147?s=20
Trump's own DHS said the goal was arresting the "worst of the worst."
The sheriffs on the ground say that's not what's happening.
What Judd Is Actually Proposing
Judd made clear this is not amnesty.
He proposed a five-year conditional path with real teeth: mandatory English, civil fines for illegal entry, zero taxpayer benefits, full employment, and kids in school.
The distinction he kept drawing is between the cartel member, the predator, the gang affiliate – and the citrus worker who has been showing up to the same job and the same church for fifteen years without a parking ticket.
Trump is already open to that conversation.
Judd confirmed a Florida Cabinet member spoke with the president about exactly this kind of immigrant – and Trump "was not anti that conversation."
The White House has also been privately telling Republicans to stop talking about mass deportations.
That's not a reversal.
That's a course correction.
ICE Drifted Off Mission – and Florida Knows It
Here's what fires me up about this story: Grady Judd built the enforcement machine.
He asked for more executive orders, signed the 287(g) agreements, and stood next to DeSantis at every press conference.
https://twitter.com/1Kadiddlehopper/status/2033929882149769409?s=20
If he's saying ICE is sweeping up church-going, tax-paying workers instead of criminals, you don't dismiss that as soft politics.
You listen.
Trump ran on deporting gang members, not grandmothers.
The sheriffs doing the actual work are telling the federal government it drifted from that promise – and they have the receipts.
Congress has been sitting on immigration reform for twenty years.
That's the real problem Judd kept coming back to Monday – and the reason he's drafting a letter to Trump, the House Speaker, and the Senate Majority Leader demanding better enforcement guidelines.
When the toughest conservative sheriffs in America's toughest immigration state say ICE lost focus, that's not a liberal talking point.
That's a warning.
Sources:
- Liv Caputo, "Florida Sheriffs rebel against Trump's, DeSantis' mass deportation efforts," Florida Phoenix, March 16, 2026.
- Ana Goñi-Lessan, "Florida sheriffs criticize federal mass deportation efforts," News Service of Florida / WLRN, March 17, 2026.
- "DHS Sets the Stage for Another Historic, Record-Breaking Year Under President Trump," Department of Homeland Security, January 20, 2026.
- WUSF News, "There were 20,000+ ICE arrests in Florida last year. Here's a closer look," March 10, 2026.
