OAN Staff Brooke Mallory
3:48 PM – Monday, January 20, 2025
In an effort to inhibit the process from being as lengthy and strenuous, a Florida sheriff reportedly shared some words of advice with illegal immigrants in his state before President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
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“And I leave with this message: ‘Southbound and down.’ Do it yourself. You can self-deport and avoid a lot of prison sentence, but it’s time. Southbound and down,” Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd told illegals during a press conference on Wednesday.
During the press conference, which was held in Winter Haven, Grady was joined by Governor Ron DeSantis (R-Fla.) and a number of other state and municipal authorities to discuss steps to tackle illegal immigration.
According to Judd, a crackdown on illegal immigration would contribute to a major decrease in crime.
“Florida needs to set the example for the other states and support the president [Trump] to get rid of these criminals who are victimizing our people,” Judd continued.
Judd also gave a number of particular instances of crimes involving illegal aliens during the news conference, such as murder and rape cases, DUI manslaughter cases, and organized thievery rings.
In line with Judd, DeSantis expressed his confidence that the second Trump administration would act quickly to reverse the immigration policies of the departing Biden government.
“We in Florida have a sense of urgency to accomplish this mission,” DeSantis declared. “The mission is very simple: We need to end the illegal immigration crisis once and for all in these United States of America,” he continued.
Florida has sued the Biden administration multiple times, most recently for purportedly refusing to assist the state in “removing noncitizens” (illegal aliens) from the “voter registers for the 2024 election” and for its “illegal” catch-and-release protocol at the Southern border.
In order to finance initiatives to curb illegal immigration, such as incarceration and relocation, DeSantis called a special session to start the week following Trump’s inauguration on January 20th.
Making sure that “we [Florida] don’t have any lingering incentives for people to come into our state illegally,” the governor asserted that the state must come together to support Trump’s pledge to address illegal immigration.
The 47th GOP president expressed gratitude to DeSantis for calling a special session in a post on Truth Social on Tuesday, adding that “hopefully other Governors will follow!”
On Saturday, Trump also “ReTruthed” a post by Tom Homan, the incoming border czar in his new administration.
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