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Sheriff: Clay County moving out of sanctuary county status

Clay County, FL — Technically, Clay County is considered a sanctuary for illegal immigrants.

In reality, that's not the case, and the newly elected sheriff wants it made clear that his county won't be among those who risk losing millions of dollars in federal funds because of the Trump Administration's crackdown efforts on sanctuary cities.

That's the word from Darryl Daniels as he works to increase cooperation with Immigration and Customs Enforcement in getting any illegal immigrants who end up in the county jail out of the country.

Within weeks of his taking office in January, the Clay County Sheriff's Office applied for the 287(g) program run by ICE, one which trains officers and deputies across the country to enforce immigration laws.

"I have an obligation to this constituency to ensure that, if folks were coming to my county illegally and committing crimes, that I did all that I could to get those people out of my county," Daniels added.

One of the Sheriff's campaign promises was to get CCSO into that program, saying it ensures there's no legal liability when deputies turn illegal immigrants over to ICE once they're eligible to leave the county jail.

"If [getting criminals] out of the county means they have to get deported back to another country, then so be it," Daniels noted. "I have no issues there."

CCSO plans to send deputies to South Carolina for four weeks of specialized training once ICE makes space available. Daniels says that could be arranged as soon as next month.

ICE also provides a one-week refresher training course on 287(g) every two years at its Charleston academy.

Sheriff Daniels says he was surprised when he found out that the Center for Immigration Studies listed Clay as a sanctuary county, something he says was based on a 2014 policy that CCSO no longer runs by.

"To date, this year, the Clay County Sheriff's Office has processed 3 different people who met the criteria for deportation through ICE," Daniels stated. "Through collaboration with ICE, [we] have turned those people over to ICE custody."

He's since worked through ICE to get Clay off that list. No other First Coast counties are on that list.

The Jacksonville Sheriff's Office is currently the only local law enforcement agency under a 287(g) agreement with ICE.

The city of Seattle has filed a lawsuit over the new crackdown threats from Attorney General Jeff Sessions, saying the federal government has no constitutional right to impose such a ruling on any cities who won't cooperate with ICE by turning over illegal immigrants.

The city of San Francisco filed a similar lawsuit 2 months ago and the leaders of other large American cities have also spoken out.

Bills have also been filed in the Florida House and Senate this year which would put in place stiff penalties for any sanctuary cities. The Senate version was filed by Jacksonville area Republican Aaron Bean.

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