{"id":63829,"date":"2026-03-16T23:02:01","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T03:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/?p=63829"},"modified":"2026-03-16T23:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T03:02:07","slug":"in-a-notable-policy-shift-polk-county-sheriff-grady-judd-has-recently-emerged-a-more-nuanced-approach-to-immigration-enforcement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/2026\/03\/16\/in-a-notable-policy-shift-polk-county-sheriff-grady-judd-has-recently-emerged-a-more-nuanced-approach-to-immigration-enforcement\/","title":{"rendered":"In a notable policy shift, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd has recently emerged a more nuanced approach to immigration enforcement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a notable policy shift, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd has recently emerged as a prominent voice among Florida sheriffs advocating for a more nuanced approach to immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n\n\n

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Credit: AP Photo\/Brynn Anderson
Sheriff Grady Judd, of Polk County, Fla., listens during a state commission meeting on Tuesday, July 10, 2018, in Sunrise, Fla.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

During a meeting of the State Immigration Enforcement Council<\/strong> on Monday, March 16, 2026, Judd\u2014who serves as the council’s chair\u2014publicly criticized mass deportation efforts that target individuals without criminal records.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shift in Stance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

While Judd has historically maintained a hardline “tough on crime” reputation and supported Governor Ron DeSantis\u2019s strict immigration policies, his recent comments mark a significant departure:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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  • Distinguishing “Good Folks”:<\/strong> Judd emphasized that law enforcement should focus on “criminal troublemakers” rather than people who came to the U.S. “inappropriately only to do better for themselves and their family.”<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Advocating for a Path to Stay:<\/strong> He suggested that for those who are working, paying taxes, and integrated into the community, a “reasonable” path to stay should be established.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  • Criticism of Federal Tactics:<\/strong> He expressed concern that current federal actions (ICE) are sweeping up “collaterals”\u2014people who are healthy, working, and not violating the law\u2014rather than focusing on those who pose actual safety threats.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

    Proposed Solutions<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Judd announced plans to draft a joint letter with other sheriffs to President Trump and Congressional leaders. His proposed framework for non-criminal immigrants includes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      \n
    • Civil Fines:<\/strong> Paying a fine for the initial illegal entry.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Language Requirements:<\/strong> A five-year window to learn English.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Self-Sufficiency:<\/strong> Ensuring individuals are working and not reliant on taxpayer-funded programs.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
    • Community Integration:<\/strong> Requiring children to be enrolled in school.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n

      Context of the Break with DeSantis<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

      This stance represents a rare public policy disagreement with Governor DeSantis, who has consistently pushed for the removal of all undocumented immigrants regardless of criminal history. Judd and other council members argued that Florida has cast “too wide of a net,” and noted that they have avoided raiding places like “strawberry fields or citrus groves” because such actions are unnecessary and disruptive to the community.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

      <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      In a notable policy shift, Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd has recently emerged as a prominent voice among Florida sheriffs advocating for a more nuanced approach to immigration enforcement. During… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":63830,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"12","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"wpai_generated_summary":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":true,"token":"eyJpbWciOiJodHRwczpcL1wvaTAud3AuY29tXC9sYWtlbGFuZGdhemV0dGUuaW5mb1wvbmV3c1wvd3AtY29udGVudFwvdXBsb2Fkc1wvMjAyNlwvMDNcL2EyN2Q0N2RlLWU2NTYtNGQzNy04M2EzLThjNjIyNzdiYTE4OV8xMTQweDY0MS53ZWJwP2ZpdD0xMDI0JTJDNTc2JnNzbD0xIiwidHh0IjoiSW4gYSBub3RhYmxlIHBvbGljeSBzaGlmdCwgUG9sayBDb3VudHkgU2hlcmlmZiBHcmFkeSBKdWRkIGhhcyByZWNlbnRseSBlbWVyZ2VkIGEgbW9yZSBudWFuY2VkIGFwcHJvYWNoIHRvIGltbWlncmF0aW9uIGVuZm9yY2VtZW50IiwidGVtcGxhdGUiOiJoaWdod2F5IiwiZm9udCI6IiIsImJsb2dfaWQiOjE2MzA0MDY2MX0.PdiyvxPr6k4PYkvz3PPPV3ewTu2JdWDyLUkTbpadFXcMQ"},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[12,14],"tags":[14101,14102],"class_list":["post-63829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","category-news","tag-in-a-notable-policy-shift","tag-polk-county-sheriff-grady-judd-has-recently-emerged-a-more-nuanced-approach-to-immigration-enforcement"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63829"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":63831,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63829\/revisions\/63831"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/63830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lakelandgazette.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}