The City of Jacksonville, Florida, ignited an immigration firestorm by criminalizing illegal entry, with a city council member touting its “public safety” benefits.
The city of Jacksonville, Florida, ignited an immigration firestorm, criminalizing illegal entry as a city council member touted the “public safety” benefits.
Fox News Digital spoke with at-large Jacksonville City Council member Nick Howland on the city’s ordinance #2025-0147, known as the Jacksonville Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act, which was passed by the city council 12-5 last week and signed into law on Tuesday.
“We are the first city in the country to enact this kind of bill,” Howland said. “We’re standing with our president, with our governor, with our state legislature to secure our borders, to reverse the Biden wave of illegal immigration and to keep our streets and our neighborhoods safe.”
The bill not only criminalizes illegal immigration but also allocates resources to help the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office identify individuals without legal status.
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One of the main resources listed in the bill was a request for 25 mobile fingerprint scanners for law enforcement.
The legislation will also make it a local crime for undocumented immigrants to enter or reside in the city of Jacksonville. First-time offenders face a mandatory 30-day jail sentence, while repeat offenders could receive up to 60 days in jail.
“There are two main parts to the bill. The first is what we’ve already discussed; it criminalizes entering or residing in Duval County if you are an illegal immigrant. The second part focuses on determining whether someone is in the country illegally,” he said.
Howland said, like most sheriff’s offices and police departments, Jacksonville uses fingerprint readers.
“This bill helps [Jacksonville] Sheriff T.K. Waters determine how many additional fingerprint readers are needed to equip every patrol unit operating 24/7 throughout the city and county,” he said.
Jacksonville covers over 800 square miles, and the bill allocates $76,000 for 25 more fingerprint readers.
“That will bring the department’s total to just over 150, roughly one for every patrol,” he said. “This is critical because it gives the sheriff another tool in the toolbox.”
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In 2024, 602 undocumented immigrants were detained in Duval County. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) took custody of 334 for deportation, according to the legislation, written by City Council member Kevin Carrico. The rest either served their time or were released on bail.
Among those 334 deportation cases, there were 94 charges for battery, 140 for DUI, as well as cases involving murder and sexual assault.
“This is, at the end of the day, a public safety bill,” Howland said. “This is keeping people off the streets that would otherwise endanger our community. And we need to know when someone is legal or illegal and the fingerprint readers help.”
While proponents of the law, like Howland, have boasted about its potential impact on public safety, others have criticized it for its redundancy and the implementation of “stop and frisk” policies.
“It has always been my position that we will provide the equipment and resources they need. So they will receive the funding for the 25 fingerprint scanners that have been requested. I wish that alone had been all 2025-147 was,” Jacksonville Mayor Donna Deegan said in a news conference.
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“But it’s not. Instead, it includes language that is hurtful and performative but not substantive,” she said. “There is nothing in this bill that isn’t already required by federal or state law. And in fact, the state law already carries a harsher penalty. So why would JSO need to arrest someone under a new local ordinance when they already have a stronger state law?”
Deegan noted that the city has had an agreement with ICE since 2008 and that sanctuary cities have been banned in the Sunshine State since 2019.
“Any suggestion to the contrary is intentionally misleading,” she said. “On top of it being redundant, this bill puts our local government in a lane where it doesn’t belong. Courts have repeatedly ruled that immigration enforcement is a function of the federal government.”
Howland said that even if there are already laws on the books, this adds additional support and flexibility for local police, which makes it worthwhile.
“There’s nothing redundant about giving police another tool in their toolbox to ensure we have safe streets and neighborhoods,” he said.
He said the new city ordinance goes a step further than state and federal laws, making it a local offense to enter or reside within Jacksonville as an illegal migrant. It gives Jacksonville authorities more power to enforce immigration violations locally, he said.
“This allows the Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office to use the new law to detain individuals a bit longer, long enough to potentially turn them over to ICE,” he said.
“Why is that important? As I mentioned, over 600 people were detained last year, but only 334 were referred to ICE for deportation. With this law, the sheriff’s office can hold individuals longer if they’ve broken the law by entering the country illegally. That means we can increase the number of cases referred to ICE for potential deportation, if necessary.”
Jacksonville Sheriff T.K. Waters said the department has seen firsthand the consequences of “failed border policies on public safety.”
“The Jacksonville Illegal Immigration Enforcement Act provides our agency with additional tools and resources to help address those threats and ensure that offenders are held accountable,” he told Fox News Digital. “Furthermore, it sends a clear message that Jacksonville will not be a sanctuary for criminals who enter our country illegally.”
Fox News Digital has reached out to the mayor’s office for comment.
