A Florida sheriff said leveraging relationships with federal immigration enforcement officials is the “tip of the spear” to fight criminal migrants.
St. Johns County Sheriff Robert Hardwick told Fox News Digital his department has a duty to partner with federal officials.
St. Johns County is part of the 287(g) program that allows U.S. Immigration and Customs Protection (ICE) to delegate to state and local law enforcement officers certain immigration functions, including identifying and detaining suspected illegal immigrants.
“Deputy sheriffs have been working on Interstate 95 with our Customs and Border Patrol, with ICE and with ERO,” he said. “We’ve been working with all of our federal partners to go ahead and enforce not just immigration, but also enforce human trafficking, sex trafficking, guns, narcotics and every illegal activity that’s going on out there.”
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While the prison in the county, home to the oldest city in the U.S., is not a federal holding site, sheriff’s deputies work closely with federal officials to notify them of illegal migrants.
Hardwick explained that if deputies pull over someone for a traffic violation, that person cannot provide valid proof of identification and police find they are not legally in the country, they’ll book them.
“Our deputy sheriffs will take you to the St. Johns County Jail for driving with no valid driver’s license,” he said. “And we’ll roll your fingerprints into the systems. We’ll also run it through a system called IAQ [Immigration Alien Query]. And it will show if you have a civil deportation letter or maybe a warrant for your arrest.
“We run IAQ almost daily in St. Johns County Jail,” he said. “And we have detainers almost daily.”
Hardwick shared that, in Florida, officials are going to “take the tip of the spear and go to a different level.”
“And that means we’re going to actually hold all the sheriffs accountable and let them play in the sandbox and make sure we’re working with our federal partners to enforce these deportations, holds and our lists” he said.
He shared that on Fridays at 2 p.m., they meet with federal, state and local partners to discuss the worst of the worst, criminal aliens wanted in Florida or in the immediate area.
“And a simple warning, that in the state of Florida, if you are wanted — whether you’re an illegal alien or you’re a citizen of the United States — we are going to hunt you down to find you and hold you accountable for your actions,’ he said.
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Hardwick noted it can be difficult to pinpoint because there are organizations that produce fake Social Security numbers or fake driver’s licenses that look legitimate.
Part of the county’s multipronged approach is using technology to notify law enforcement of who is arriving in its jurisdiction.
“We have really been working Interstate 95 hard because we know there’s a lot of interdiction out there that is being overlooked. We have a brand-new tool and technique here in Saint Johns County. We just fired up just recently,” he said. “We have license plate readers on our north and south border and, as you enter, your car tags are run.
“As of yesterday, we’re averaging between 17 and 22 hits, meaning those could be stolen cars, wanted persons or deportation orders where someone’s wanted on the criminal alien list. So, I think we’re just doing things just a little bit different here in St. Johns County and leading from the front, leading by example.”
Referencing Gov. Ron DeSantis’ newly signed legislation that passed sweeping immigration laws in Florida, Hardwick said his office is waiting for additional guidance on immigration enforcement.
“We only have 1,500 beds in the state of Florida for deportation,” he said. “And Florida has over 23 million people living here. We just have to track the ones that have a warrant for their arrest, and we need to get them out of our country.”
He noted that President Donald Trump has been “crystal clear that immigration has been No. 1 on his list.”
“Let’s start preparing for if that happens and what it will look like,” he said.
“I think it’s important that we just do something a little bit different, and we don’t come in this job and sit as elected officials and do the status quo,” he added. “You have got to think outside the box.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the White House, ICE and Gov. DeSantis’ office for comment.
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