Millions in state funding for immigration enforcement is coming to Southwest Florida law enforcement agencies.
Collier County secured $8.25 million in new immigration enforcement grants Tuesday, June 9, and Lee County received a $9.8 million check in May.
The funding comes from the State Board of Immigration Enforcement, which approved about $87.3 million in grants during its meeting in Tallahassee June 9. The money is part of a $250 million pot created by the Florida Legislature last year to reimburse local agencies assisting federal immigration enforcement.
The board − composed of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General James Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson − approved 17 new subawards totaling nearly $30.3 million and 39 amendments to existing subawards totaling nearly $57 million.
How will Collier County use new funds for immigration enforcement?
The Collier County Sheriff’s Office received $8,250,733.55, the second-largest award in this cycle, behind the Orange County Sheriff’s Office at $10.8 million.
The bulk of Collier’s award, more than $8.1 million, is allocated for equipment, hardware and software.
CCSO received:
$1.27 million for 50 license plate reader cameras
$1.18 million for interoperable communications hardware
$600,000 for two mobile Skywatch towers
$349,170 for two inmate body scanners
$84,000 for 700 mattresses for detainees with immigration holds
$57,479 for a narcotics spectrometer
$21,000 for six inmate restraint chairs
From left to right: ICE Deputy Director Madison Sheahan, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles Executive Director Dave Kerner, and Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier, holding up a check for “Defending the Homeland” at a press conference in Tallahassee, Florida on Sept. 26, 2025.
The agency said the spending is needed to support “mission-critical communications” and maintain safety during “increased immigration transports.”
In a response to The News-Press and Naples Daily News, CCSO spokesperson Karie Partington provided a statement noting the agency’s immigration enforcement efforts.
“The Collier County Sheriff’s Office has the longest standing, largest and most productive 287g partnership with ICE in the nation. Since 2009, we have had multiple inspections yielding favorable findings and acknowledgements of compliance with the laws and requirements of this program. All Florida law enforcement agencies are required, by law, to enforce immigration statutes in our state. President Trump and Governor DeSantis have made clear their support of border security and lawful immigration enforcement. For the past seventeen years, our commitment has been to lawfully identify for removal illegal immigrants that have committed crimes and victimized our residents, businesses and visitors. By maintaining our 287g partnership, we remain dedicated to reducing victimization here in Collier County,” Partington said.
Her statement continued, “Furthermore, our community has expressed overwhelming support for our participation in the 287g program. We meet all training mandates of the Florida Criminal Justice Standards & Training Commission including many topics such as Implicit Bias, Discriminatory Profiling and Crisis Intervention as well as those required by our 287g partnership agreement: Accountability, Cross Cultural Communications, Constitutional Law and more. Our application for the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Local Law Enforcement Immigration Grant Program is complete and thorough with narratives that explain and justify each requested item.”
The application states the mattresses are needed to house an “increased inmate population with immigration holds.” CCSO did not respond to questions about whether it expects an increase in detainees or how that would affect capacity at county correctional facilities.
CCSO also did not confirm whether it coordinated with the Collier County government, which funds the jail, regarding the impact of the request on staffing and long-term costs, though the grant request is titled that it was prepared by county commissioners.
According to 287(g) information provided on the CCSO website, “Our deputies in the community do not ask people their immigration status, nor do we as an agency conduct immigration sweeps.” However, CCSO did not respond to follow-up questions on whether its request for $1.2 million in license plate readers for “interdiction” matches its promise that deputies do not conduct immigration sweeps.
Lee County awarded $9.8 million for immigration enforcement
Unlike Collier’s newly approved funding, Lee County’s $9,873,457.69 award was finalized months earlier during the board’s meeting in February.
The Lee County Sheriff’s Office had sought more than $23.6 million, but the board reduced the request by about $13.7 million before approval, largely by scaling back a proposed six-year contract with Axon, an AI body camera company, to two years.
State officials later presented a check to Sheriff Carmine Marceno May 6 in Fort Myers.
LCSO received:
About $2.17 million for 1,200 protective vests
$1.06 million for 60 license plate readers
$1 million for a two-year subscription to the Peregrine AI platform
$184,959 for four license plate reader trailers
$158,745 for two mobile surveillance towers
Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia presented a $9.8 million check for immigration enforcement to Lee County Sheriff Carmine Marceno at the Lee County Sheriff’s Office in Fort Myers May 6, 2026.
LCSO also leads the state in immigration encounters, with 2,636 reported cases since Aug. 1, 2025, as of Wednesday, June 10.
“Thank you, CFO Ingoglia, for your consistent support of Florida law enforcement. The funding awarded today will bolster the capabilities of my deputies to protect and serve the residents of Lee County,” Marceno said in a statement.
What is the AI platform law enforcement agencies are using?
Several agencies, including Collier, Lee, Sarasota and Osceola counties, received funding for the Peregrine AI platform, which is designed to consolidate law enforcement data from multiple systems into a single interface.
In its grant request, CCSO said its “existing information technology environment is comprised of multiple systems that operate independently, with critical enforcement-relevant data residing in isolated silos and, in many cases, across agencies.” Similarly, LCSO said it “currently operates within a fragmented technology environment composed of multiple legacy and purpose-built systems that function independently of one another.”
Alligator Alcatraz is about more than immigrants
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File: A general view inside a temporary migrant detention center informally known as “Alligator Alcatraz” in Ochopee.
(Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters)Florida’s broader immigration crackdown
The funding comes as Florida continues to expand its investment in immigration enforcement statewide.
Operating the Alligator Alcatraz detention facility costs the state about $1.02 million per day, with total spending surpassing $1 billion in its first year. Florida has sought federal reimbursement for those costs, initially applying for $1.5 billion and later revising that request to $608.4 million, but funding has been slow. The state received its first partial payment of about $58 million from Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) May 18, FDEM Director of Communications Stephanie Hartman confirmed to The News-Press & Naples Daily News.
“Enforcing our nation’s immigration laws has led to safer communities. I want to recognize the hard work of our law enforcement partners to remove criminal illegal aliens off our streets and protect our citizens,” CFO Blaise Ingoglia said during a visit to Lee County Sheriff’s Office in Fort Myers May 6. “We will continue to work alongside President Trump and Governor DeSantis to ensure that our law enforcement have the tools and training necessary to remove criminal illegal aliens from our streets.”
Mickenzie Hannon is a watchdog reporter for The News-Press and Naples Daily News, covering Collier and Lee counties. Contact her at 239-435-3423 or mhannon@gannett.com.
This article originally appeared on Naples Daily News: Florida awards millions for immigration enforcement in Collier, Lee