A Florida sheriff on Wednesday issued a warning to sexual offenders and those with warrants for their arrests that they are not allowed in hurricane shelters in his jurisdiction.
Polk Country Sheriff Grady Judd later appeared on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" to explain that no Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will be performing checks at shelters, and that "Everyone here is welcome at our shelter, unless you're a sexual predator or a child offender. Then we're not going to have you here."
"Keep in mind, the kids that are in a daycare today may very well be in a shelter this weekend. Do you want a sexual offender or predator sleeping next to them?" he continued. "Not happening here."
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida objected to Judd's statement that those with warrants will be arrested if they attempt to seek shelter.
"I tell the ACLU, grab all those people up and take them home with you," Judd said. "We don't arrest people for simple traffic offenses. ACLU is just blustering like they normally do."
"We were trying to give all of those people a five-day heads-up, so that they could find safe shelter as well, either with us at the county jail or someplace else if they don't want to come to jail," he added.
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