POLK COUNTY, Fla. — Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd said he “not only approved” but was “excited” about his deputies’ actions after viral video showed them handcuffing a mother and daughter inside HCA Florida Poinciana Hospital on ICE detainers
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said Grace Calero and Giulianna Carriel were taken to the hospital to be treated after a car crash, but the investigation revealed they had overstayed their visas and were in the country illegally.The women both self-deported to Ecuador, but the case sparked protests and questions about local immigration enforcement.
The Sheriff’s Office said the woman arrested at HCA Poinciana faced no state charges, had no criminal background, and had no gang history.
Their arrest comes just months after Sheriff Grady Judd addressed the State Immigration Enforcement Council and stated there should be a common-sense approach to immigration.
“Everyone that we’ve taken into custody has been involved in a criminal complaint and or are hanging out with them and were collateral,” Judd added at the time.
For four days in a row Channel 9 requested to interview the sheriff on the case and his immigration enforcement policy, but he declined stating he was not interested in discussing the case.
When Channel 9 asked if he approved of how deputies handled the arrests during a press conference Thursday, the sheriff stated:
“Oh, I not only approve of it, I am excited about what they did because they weren’t treated any differently than a United States citizen who would have been involved in a crash. As part of the investigation of the crash, we run everybody, whether you’re illegal or a United State citizen, whether you’re young or old, we all run you through our data bases to see if there’s any warrants for your arrest,” said Judd.
Channel 9 sought clarity regarding that statement since there are legal distinctions between a removal order, federal warrant and an ICE hold.
Judd initially said the women had ‘federal warrants and federal holds.’ But when Channel 9 repeatedly asked him to confirm whether there was a warrant for their arrest, Judd instead described the federal action as an ICE hold, possible removal order or detention hold and declined to clarify further during the press conference.
A spokesperson later clarified there was not an ICE warrant, nor a removal order and stated ICE issued an immigration detainer for both women. The spokesperson also apologized for the confusion.
You can see their full statement to Channel 9 Thursday below:
“At the news conference, you asked Sheriff Judd if he approved of how deputies handled the arrest of Grace Stephanie Calero Cabanilla and Giulanna Mia Carriel Calero. In his answer he talked about several different legal processes such as warrants, wants, holds, and detainer requests. I do want to clear that up for you. The Sheriff used both the terms warrant and hold (interchangeably when he was discussing his analogy). He said “there was an ICE hold, either a removal order of an ICE detention hold that they wanted.” That is the correct terminology to use (ICE detention hold). There was not an ICE warrant nor a removal order. ICE issued an immigration detainer for both women. I hope this helps. Sorry for the confusion.
This is also what we wrote to you earlier: ‘…in this case a traffic crash that occurred in Polk County, we run those involved through state and federal databases as a normal course of business, and if, as a result of these inquiries our federal immigration partners ask for an immigration detainer to be served, we will do that. We don’t make that decision, federal immigration agencies do. In this case, those detained were not arrested for a state law criminal violation. No Polk County deputies are under investigation related to detaining Grace Stephanie Calero Cabanilla and Giulanna Mia Carriel Calero as a result of a federal immigration detainer being issued.’”
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