{"id":343741,"date":"2026-07-17T19:07:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T19:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/343741\/"},"modified":"2026-07-17T19:07:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T19:07:14","slug":"orange-county-sheriff-downplays-immigration-enforcement-while-defending-half-billion-budget-pitch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/343741\/","title":{"rendered":"Orange County sheriff downplays immigration enforcement while defending half-billion budget pitch"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Credit: Orange County Sheriff’s Office via WikiMedia Commons<\/a><\/p>\n

Orange County Sheriff John Mina downplayed the role of the sheriff\u2019s office in federal immigration enforcement Wednesday after facing scrutiny from local immigrant rights advocates over its proposed budget this next fiscal year of $470 million (an 11 percent increase).<\/p>\n

The Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Office, like every other sheriff\u2019s office in Florida, has what\u2019s known as a 287(g) agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that allows local deputies to be trained to carry out federal immigration duties. <\/p>\n

Such agreements are mandated for counties under Florida law, but have faced greater pushback over the last year and a half under the Trump administration\u2019s mass immigrant detention and deportation agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs a sheriff in Florida, I will follow the law,\u201d Mina told the board of Orange County commissioners Wednesday. \u201cI\u2019m not going to break the law \u2026 that says I will use my best efforts to assist in immigration enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Still, Mina argued that federal immigration enforcement \u2014 including the detention of immigrants allegedly in the U.S. without documentation or legal authorization \u2014 isn\u2019t the Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Office\u2019s top priority.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will follow the law,\u201d he repeated (multiple times, as if he were concerned that state officials were watching the public discussion). \u201cBut it\u2019s just not a top priority for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Out of more than 15,000 arrests his deputies made in 2025 \u2014 roughly 14,400 of which involved adults \u2014 Mina said that just about 101 of those arrests \u201crelated to immigration.\u201d All of the immigration-related arrests, he added, involved cases of local criminal charges.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just not a top priority for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orange County Sheriff John Mina, referring to federal immigration enforcement<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t go on any raids. We don\u2019t initiate any type of self-initiated immigration enforcement,\u201d Mina said. \u201cThe people who are here illegally who happen to come into our contact, they committed a crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mina was on the hot seat on the issue of immigration enforcement Wednesday in part due to the scrutiny of immigrant rights activists organized with a local, grassroots Immigrants Are Welcome Here Coalition.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The coalition \u2014 made up of social justice, labor and immigrant advocacy groups \u2014 this week sent a letter to the sheriff\u2019s office asking for greater transparency in how much of the office\u2019s proposed budget increase for this next fiscal year would go toward carrying out immigration duties.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am the son of a first-generation immigrant family, and a lot of the times when I see everything that\u2019s happening, I imagine, how would I feel if this were happening to my parents?\u201d said Alejandro Cardozo, speaking during the public comment period of the county board meeting Wednesday. <\/p>\n

Cordoza, along with others, directly referenced recent killings of immigrants<\/a> by ICE agents in Maine and Texas in his comments.<\/p>\n

Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a 52-year-old Mexican national who was close to obtaining legal status according to his family, was fatally shot<\/a> by an ICE agent on his way to work at a construction site in Houston last week.<\/p>\n

Just days later, 25-year-old food delivery driver and Colombian immigrant Johan Sebastian Guerrero, was similarly shot dead<\/a> by an ICE agent in Maine, reportedly in front of his partner and 3-year-old daughter.\u00a0<\/p>\n

And in Florida, a 28-year-old man from Mexico was struck and killed<\/a> by a tractor trailer while fleeing ICE agents at a gas station in St. Augustine in the early hours of this past Tuesday. The Florida Highway Patrol, which confirmed the deadly encounter, has not revealed the man\u2019s immigration status.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe as taxpayers should know exactly where our money is going,\u201d Cardozo argued, speaking on the Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Office budget. \u201cI think that\u2019s totally fair, and especially if it\u2019s going to causes that are not being used to respond to emergencies or to solve violent crimes, but to harass and deport hard-working immigrants trying to make their lives better in a peaceful way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Orange County Jail, and the county corrections department that operates it, has faced its own scrutiny as a temporary detention facility for immigrants detained by ICE on federal immigration holds. <\/p>\n

The county recently renegotiated an agreement<\/a> with ICE to restrict the amount of time that ICE can hold federal inmates in the jail following a more-than-yearlong public pressure campaign by the Immigrants Are Welcome Here coalition.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you guarantee that no portion of this budget increase, whether for personal equipment, training, technology, detention, transportation or administrative costs, will be used directly or indirectly to support federal-funded immigration enforcement activities?\u201d pressed Linda Coffin, a member of the coalition and the local League of Women Voters, ahead of Mina\u2019s budget presentation for the OCSO.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not want any of our taxpayer money to be used for federally funded immigration operations,\u201d she said, point-blank. \u201cThank you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Office receives more funding than any other county agency, with a current budget of $423 million. For the next fiscal year, beginning Oct. 1, Mina initially pitched a $508 million budget, but lowered that to $470 million \u201cafter a conversation\u201d with Orange County Mayor Jerry Demings \u2014 the former Orange County sheriff himself.<\/p>\n

The sheriff\u2019s office staffs 1,939 sworn deputies, according to Mina, in addition to 814 civilian positions. Just 160 deputies \u2014 roughly 8 percent of his sworn personnel \u2014 are deputized to carry out ICE duties, he said. Deputies have also been called by ICE to \u201cassist\u201d with protests organized outside its federal office in Orlando.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey asked for us to assist them with crowd-control training \u2014 which they desperately need, as you can see throughout the country \u2014 and we are experts at it,\u201d Mina boasted, before again appearing to downplay the frequency of their collaboration. \u201cThey just don\u2019t call us that much for that assistance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ProtestersCredit: McKenna Schueler<\/p>\n

Immigration enforcement has become an increasingly sensitive issue with the recent Supreme Court decision allowing the Trump administration to end Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Haitians and Syrians living in the U.S. due to political turmoil in their home countries. Florida is home to the largest population of Haitian TPS holders in the United States.<\/p>\n

Mina admitted he watches board of county commissioner meetings to hear what people are saying about the Sheriff\u2019s Office, but believes the concerns voiced by \u201cvery nice, passionate people\u201d are misdirected.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems more of that passion is directed towards Maine and other parts of our country. We\u2019re just not seeing those interactions here,\u201d he said, referring to deadly incidents involving ICE and Customs and Border Patrol agents. \u201cAnd I can tell you that the Orange County Sheriff\u2019s Office is not going to be involved in any of that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI certainly can\u2019t control what ICE or DHS does,\u201d he added, \u201cbut our deputies know what their priorities are.\u201d According to Mina, priorities broadly include violent crime, property crime, \u201cpeople who are selling drugs and killing our residents\u201d and engaging with the community.<\/p>\n

Mina\u2019s 11 percent proposed budget increase for OCSO, he said, is predominantly to cover salary increases, state-mandated increases for the Florida Retirement System, and anticipated health insurance costs.<\/p>\n

The budget proposal also requests funding for 140 new positions in the sheriff\u2019s office, including two additional deputies for its Behavioral Response Unit \u2014 to respond to mental health crises in the community \u2014 and 25 patrol deputies.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt reflects our operational needs, based on service demands, contractual obligations and the growth in the calls for service,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n

A proposed amendment to Florida\u2019s Constitution, subject to approval by Florida voters this fall, could also affect public safety funding, Mina admitted. The proposed amendment, Amendment 3, would expand the state\u2019s homestead tax exemption, effectively reducing the amount of property tax revenue available to local governments for funding essential public services.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know that myself, I know probably the Florida Sheriffs Association will be doing some education [about Amendment 3],\u201d he said. An analysis by state economists found that the proposal could cost local governments nearly $5 billion<\/a> in the first year of its implementation alone.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Local\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tThey\u2019ll lose nearly $12 billion in the fifth year, according to projections developed by state economists\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\u201cHonestly, I think that the reason \u2014 one of the reasons \u2014 the governor is not campaigning for it is because he knows, based on polling, that it might not be popular with everyone,\u201d Mina added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, an outgoing governor who initially pitched a more far-reaching property tax plan that would have also affected public education funding, distanced himself<\/a> from the Legislature-approved Amendment 3 (which specifically applies to non-school taxes) last week.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the Legislature did wasn\u2019t my proposal,\u201d he told reporters at a press conference. <\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019ll likely pass,\u201d DeSantis predicted, adding that he plans to vote in favor of it himself.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Orange County commissioner Kelly Martinez Semrad, an ally of the local Immigrants Are Welcome Here coalition, pointed out the irony of the sheriff\u2019s office asking for so much extra money shortly after DeSantis and other state officials accused the county<\/a> of unnecessary bloat.<\/p>\n

\u201cGenerally, I am supportive,\u201d she said of the $470 million OCSO budget proposal. \u201cBut I am concerned that the narratives don\u2019t align at this time, where we talk about increased local taxes while the state is slamming us for for having too much money in taxes. So I\u2019m concerned about the timing.\u201d<\/p>\n

The county\u2019s total budget proposal for the 2026-2027 fiscal year is roughly $8.9 billion<\/a>. More than $1.1 billion of that is allocated for public safety, a category of spending that includes the Sheriff\u2019s Office, Fire Rescue and the Corrections Department.<\/p>\n

\"Stay<\/p>\n

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\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: Orange County Sheriff’s Office via WikiMedia Commons Orange County Sheriff John Mina downplayed the role of the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":343742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1877,61083,1841,11875,140922,11869,139,141,140],"class_list":["post-343741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-ice","tag-immigrant-rights","tag-immigration","tag-ocso","tag-ocso-budget","tag-orange-county-sheriffs-office","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=343741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/343741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/343742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=343741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=343741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=343741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}