JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Jacksonville City Council Vice President Kevin Carrico has filed legislation to ensure the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office has the resources needed to enforce illegal immigration laws.
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According to a news release, the legislation would help JSO purchase 25 fingerprint readers to identify and process those in the country illegally and help support new laws passed by the Florida Legislature.
The laws would also make it a local crime for someone in the country illegally to enter or reside in Jacksonville.
“Our community, like so many others across the nation, is dealing with the consequences of failed border policies. With President Trump now leading the charge to enforce the law and protect Americans, it’s critical that we give our local law enforcement officers the tools and resources they need to do their jobs effectively,” Carrico said. “This funding will strengthen our Sheriff’s Office’s ability to identify and remove individuals who have violated immigration laws and ensure our city remains a safe place for law-abiding residents.”
News4JAX spoke with Carrico on Wednesday night about why he filed the bill.
“The Jacksonville Immigration Act is really an effort to keep our city safer. To go in lockstep with what the Florida Legislature and our President Donald Trump has put in place as far as immigration policies,” said Carrico. “It’s a collaboration with JSO and our sheriff, TK waters, so we worked together on putting language together that would essentially give him and his staff more tools.”
We also asked about concerns that non violent people might be detained through these immigration policies.
“I’d say that fentanyl is non violent, but hundreds of people die from drug overdoses,” said Carrico. “That’s really one of the big concerns of those drugs coming in from other countries, and it doesn’t bode well for safety in communities when teenagers and young people think they’re trying some kind of a drug and it’s fentanyl, and they die and they lose their life.”
Sheriff T.K. Waters was recently appointed to the State Immigration Enforcement Council by Florida House Speaker, Daniel Perez.
RELATED: Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters says legal immigrants should not be afraid of DeSantis’ new council
“Illegal immigration is not just a federal issue; it affects us right here at home,” Waters said. “We’ve seen the impact on public safety, and this legislation will give us the support we need to enforce the laws effectively and keep our community safe.”
News4JAX anchor Scott Johnson spoke with Sheriff Waters on Tuesday about that appointment.
“The scope of what we do, what we deal with in Jacksonville. We have the largest 287g, second largest in the nation,” said Waters. “We processed 2,000 people in our jail last year, 600 which were ordered out of the country. So it’s a big deal for us.”
News4JAX emailed the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office for statistics on crimes committed by immigrants in the country illegally. They did not have that data readily available at the time of our request. We also reached out to our local FBI office and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to see if they had those statistics but are currently waiting to hear back from them.