CHARLOTTE COUNTY, Fla. (WINK) — One of Florida’s most influential sheriff’s is pushing for a different approach to immigration enforcement, expressing concern that “healthy” and hardworking people are bring swept up in mass deportations. 

“I look through the lens of this camera, and it is fuzzy,” said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd on Monday. “To me we need to focus in.” 

Judd chairs Florida’s State Immigration Enforcement Council, which is comprised of four sheriffs and four city police chiefs – including Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell. Judd made the comments during a council discussion on Monday. 

The sheriff suggested that illegal immigrants without a criminal record could stay in the country if they meet certain conditions, including learning to speak English, putting their children in schools, and paying a fine for improperly entering,

“Those are the folks we need in this country that we embrace, because we are a country of immigrants,” Judd said. “But we have allowed, what I call the criminal troublemaker, to just flood in this country and victimize people. And I think a path for the good folks with a good intention, for the right reason, is reasonable.”

That is a notable shift for one of Florida’s most recognizable law enforcement officers.

News Service of Florida reports that less than a year ago, in a council meeting, Judd asked President Donald Trump to sign more executive orders to allow state law enforcement to expedite the removal of undocumented immigrants, including those who do not have removal orders or criminal records.

During the meeting, Charlotte County Sheriff Bill Prummell echoed Judd’s comments. 

“We’re not out doing immigration enforcement just raiding businesses and homes but unfortunately when ICE gets involved you have the collatoral and that’s what’s happening and I wholeheartedly agree that Congress needs to get off their butts and fix it.” 

Gov. Ron DeSantis has argued that Florida is leading the nation in immigration enforcement. He pushed for a state law last year requiring state and local law enforcement officials to cooperate with federal immigration enforcement efforts. That law also set up the council. And Florida was the first state to set up makeshift detention centers such as ‘Alligator Alcatraz’ in south Florida.

On Tuesday, Judd held a press conference to clarify that Florida law enforcement leaders “wholeheartedly support and endorse ICE.”

Judd said his office fully cooperates with ICE, adding the agency is excellent to work with. But the sheriff said “one size doesn’t fit all” when it comes to immigration enforcement, instead calling for a common-sense approach.

WINK News reached out to ICE for comment but did not immediately hear back.

In a statement, the Collier County Sheriff’s Office said it is “committed to removing illegal aliens that have victimized our Collier County residents and visitors.” 

“We remain committed to this partnership [with ICE], to the rule of law, and to enforcing the laws of the State of Florida, including recent immigration enforcement law,” the Sheriff’s Office said. 

The Lee County Sheriff’s Office declined to comment.