Lee County Sheriff's Office among Florida agencies set to receive money for immigration enforcement

LEE COUNTY, Fla. —

The State Board of Immigration Enforcement (SBIE) is set to approve another $53 million in awards for local law enforcement agencies.

About half of those funds are being allocated to only one county.

While $14 million of the funds are for new awards, the other $39 million is for 12 law enforcement agencies that are amending their original budgets with additional requests – most of which is for equipment.

All of the requests have been approved by the SBIE Executive Director Anthony Coker, who stepped into the position in October 2025, and will need board approval at the next Florida Cabinet meeting on Tuesday.

The board, comprised of Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General James Uthmeier, Chief Financial Officer Blaise Ingoglia and Agriculture Commissioner Wilton Simpson, has not yet denied a funding request since its creation last year.

Lee, Polk and Escambia are the three counties with the largest requests.

In Lee County, the sheriff’s office is amending its request from $1 million to more than $23 million, according to the SBIE’s award budget amendment review.

Most of that money will be for purchasing body cameras with AI translation services, but the sheriff’s office is also purchasing license plate readers, bulletproof vests, surveillance towers and a new computer system to share information between state agencies.

Polk County is asking for $8.7 million for software, which includes radios and servers. Grady Judd, the Polk County Sheriff, is the council chair for the State Immigration Enforcement Council.

In the Panhandle, Escambia County is asking for about $5.8 million more in funding for equipment, including radios, license plate readers and data storage.

For new requests, the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office and the Osceola County Board of County Commissioners are asking for $9.5 million. The sheriff’s office’s request is mostly for equipment, including bulletproof vests and vehicle ballistic panels, while the county commission is asking for money for training purposes and for mattresses and a body scanner for the jail.

According to Transparency Florida, a state website that tracks government spending, so far in 2026 the SBIE has disbursed about $72,000 in funds to the City of St. Augustine Beach, Gulf County Board of County Commissioners, Lee County Sheriff’s Office, Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and the Washington County Sheriff’s Department.

The state has a pot of $250 million to use to reimburse local law enforcement for purchases regarding illegal immigration and has already approved tens of millions of dollars in requests.

That money was allocated by the Florida Legislature in 2025 to assist U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and for bonuses and overtime for officers who participate in operations with ICE.

In September 2025, the first round of requests, 56 grants totaling $14 million were approved. In October, another $4.3 million was approved, and in December the board approved $2.4 million more in requests.

Florida spent more than $573 million out of the Emergency Preparedness and Response Fund on immigration enforcement last year, according to a report by the Florida Division of Emergency Management. While the federal government has approved reimbursement funds of up to $608 million, the money hasn’t been sent to state coffers, and the state only expects the federal government to pay about half of the $573 million, according to the report.

DOWNLOAD the free Gulf Coast News app for your latest news and alerts on breaking news, weather, sports, entertainment, and more on your phone or tablet. And check out the Very Local Gulf Coast app to stream news, entertainment and original programming on your TV.