Hurricane Irma: Polk Not Turning Away Immigrants

LAKELAND, FL – Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd shot back at “fake news” reports after his Tweet about emergency shelters not accepting registered sex offenders and people with active warrants made national news earlier in the week. Judd returned to Facebook on Sunday, Sept. 10 to reiterate the Polk County Sheriff’s Office is not concerned with residency status or immigration at the county’s emergency shelters, nor are they turning away anyone who doesn’t have identification.

“Every shelter has a check-in log, for accountability,” Judd said on Facebook Sunday morning. “If you don’t have an ID you will still be allowed to check-in. Our mission is to keep everyone safe!” (For more hurricane news or local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Lakeland Patch, and click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

On Wednesday, Judd took to Twitter to send out a message to evacuees: “If you go to a shelter for Irma and you have a warrant, we’ll gladly escort you to the safe and secure shelter called the Polk County Jail.”

Judd also said sworn law enforcement officers will be at every shelter to check identifications. People classified as sex offenders or sexual predators are also not welcome, he said on Twitter.

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“We cannot and we will not have innocent children in a shelter with sexual offenders and predators,” Judd wrote. “Period.”

The tweets caused a stir on the social media platform. While some supported the strong stance, others were outraged. On Facebook Sunday, Judd said the uproar may have come from his “140-characters-or-less Twitter, which went viral, despite full explanations on our (Facebook) page.” Still, some people on Facebook were still upset after his updated post.

“How is it ‘fake news’ when a few days ago you posted an update stating you must show ID to get into the shelters and that if you had a warrant of any kind, you’re not welcome there?” said Zack Ayotte, a Wildwood resident from Gardner, Mass., in a response to Judd’s Facebook post this morning.

Judd replied: “What we said was deputies would be checking IDs. The Red Cross and Polk County Emergency Management sent out lists of what to bring to shelters – an ID is on the list. Not everyone has an ID but they will not and are not being turned away. Every shelter in the country has a check-in list. We need to know who is in the shelter, for accountability. Thank you for your message, and please be safe!”

Image via Pasco County Emergency Management Facebook page