![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/1773884482_619_Screenshot-2026-03-18-at-5.09.56-PM.png\")
Grady Woke in Winter Haven, Florida on March 17, 2026.Credit: Polk County Sheriff’s Office\/Facebook<\/p>\n
Grady Woke in Winter Haven, Florida on March 17, 2026.
Credit: Polk County Sheriff’s Office\/Facebook<\/p>\n
Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd knows his county. After all, he\u2019s been elected six times, and loves to get in front of a camera and say colloquial phrases like, \u201cThey don\u2019t know beans from buttermilk about what\u2019s happening in this community<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n But Judd recently defended non-violent illegal migrants, which is a cardinal sin in MAGA world, and to prove he\u2019s not a \u201cgrits for brains\u201d lib, the longtime registered Republican and Trump committee appointee<\/a>, held a press conference on Tuesday to calm everyone down.\u00a0<\/p>\n Speaking in front of reporters at Winter Haven\u2019s Sheriff\u2019s Operations Center, the notoriously tough on crime sheriff kicked things off by attacking local media for highlighting a recent controversial stance<\/a> made by himself and six other law enforcement officers on the Florida Immigration Enforcement Council.<\/p>\n Earlier this week the council mulled sending a letter criticizing the Trump administration\u2019s sweeping mass deportation, and essentially argued that illegal immigrants who aren\u2019t criminals should have a \u201cpath forward\u201d to stay in the country, under certain conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThose people who are adding to the American dream, enjoying the American dream, that came here illegally but they\u2019re doing good and they\u2019re not a drag on society\u2014in fact they\u2019re helping society\u2014we need to find a path for them,\u201d Judd said on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Judd would like to see the U.S. House Speaker, and the Senate majority leader work together to urge reserving deportation to just violent criminals. \u201cQuite frankly, Congress gets an F-minus, if you can get worse than an F, in dealing with this issue,\u201d added Judd.<\/p>\n Clearly some were worried that Judd was infected by the \u201cWoke Mind Virus.\u201d So at yesterday\u2019s press conference Judd reiterated that he still loves ICE agents, and said it was \u201coffensive\u201d to suggest otherwise.<\/p>\n \u201cDon\u2019t believe the hype \u2026 don\u2019t buy that recent media hyperbole implying we are breaking away from or not working with ICE. We wholeheartedly support their mission. Always have, always will,\u201d wrote his department on Facebook<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n Of course, Judd\u2019s sympathy for illegal migrants didn\u2019t sit well the Judd Heads, who put down their Grady Judd bobbleheads<\/a> to flood his department\u2019s Facebook livestream with comments like: \u201cWe are witnessing the end of Judd\u2019s career\u201d and \u201cBruh\u2026 not you grady\u2026 he must have a latina baddy he\u2019s in love with lol.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis is not some epiphany from above all of a sudden, this is common sense of what\u2019s happening here,\u201d said Judd at the press conference. \u201cYou can\u2019t have rule that fits all.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Unfortunately, the \u201ccommon sense\u201d that Judd longs for doesn\u2019t exist. Cruelty, fear and humiliation are what make this whole racist recipe work. Afterall, Homeland Security Advisor and white nationalism-enjoyer<\/a> Stephen Miller helped author much of the Trump administration\u2019s objectively irrational policies, like family separation at the border, and, more recently, the use of the Alien Enemies Act, which helps quickly deport migrants without any pesky court hearings.\u00a0<\/p>\n That same day, Florida Attorney General General Jammes Uthmeier also chimed in and disagreed with Judd<\/a> at a press conference in Orlando. \u201cWhat I\u2019ll say is in Florida, we\u2019re going to keep enforcing the law. That is our job, as law enforcement, to enforce the law that\u2019s on the books. If people are here illegally, then they are breaking the law, and we are going to enforce it,\u201d said Uthmeier.<\/p>\n It\u2019s worth noting that former Hillsborough County District Attorney Andrew Warren was canned by Gov. Ron DeSantis for signing a piece of paper saying he doesn\u2019t think some laws, like violations of state abortion bans or gender-affirming healthcare, are worth prosecuting. But he was a Democrat so it\u2019s different, I guess.<\/p>\n But what\u2019s remarkable about the 72-year-old\u2019s newly-announced stance on illegal migrants is that it shows a hint of empathy, especially from a guy who once said he would arrest anyone who had an active warrant<\/a> seeking shelter from Hurricane Irma. It also shows that maybe he saw a recent Politico poll<\/a> showing 49% of Americans think Trump\u2019s mass deportations are \u201ctoo aggressive,\u201d or that maybe he noticed his \u201ceconomically politically active\u201d Republican friends rely heavily on Polk County immigrant labor through seasonal agricultural visas. Or maybe he just needs something to distract folks from his appearance in the Epstein<\/a> files<\/a>.<\/p>\n Either way, anyone whose brain hasn\u2019t been red-pilled into a fine mush and then squeezed through an Ivermectin tube can see that Trump\u2019s current immigration policy of sending masked goons into courthouses, Home Depot parking lots and daycares, while sweeping up anyone you looks brown has been an epic disaster.<\/p>\n But unfortunately for Judd, pointing this out and simply asking for some nuance and \u201ccommon sense\u201d surrounding immigration policy, is considered woke now. <\/p>\n Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success.<\/a><\/p>\n Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters.<\/a><\/p>\n Follow us:\u00a0Google News<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0NewsBreak<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Reddit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Instagram<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Facebook\u00a0<\/a>|\u00a0BlueSky<\/a><\/p>\n This article appears in Mar. 12 \u2013 18, 2026<\/a>.<\/p>\n \n\tRelated\n<\/p>\n \t