Orange County Sheriff John Mina downplayed the role of the sheriff’s 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).
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office, like every other sheriff’s office in Florida, has what’s 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.
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’s mass immigrant detention and deportation agenda…