Flanked by Florida Highway Patrol troopers and a ‘Florida LEADS’ podium sign, Governor Ron DeSantis on Monday touted Florida as creating the “blueprint” for America’s war on illegal immigration.
WATCH: Few complaints filed about FL law enforcement not complying with state’s new immigration law
From sweeping new state reforms to backing the Trump administration on enforcement, DeSantis said Florida is leading the fight and using its own law enforcement agencies to help the feds crack down.
“We’ve made a difference,” DeSantis said, adding that all 67 Sheriffs in the state have entered into an agreement to help the feds in its mission to round up immigrants who are in the U.S. illegally.
Those who don’t, Desantis warned, could face consequences.
In March, Florida’s immigration czar, Larry Keefe, went so far as creating what’s known as the law enforcement accountability dashboard or LEAD.
LEAD is as public portal where people can report law enforcement agencies in the state who don’t comply with the state’s immigration laws.
In documents provided to us through a public records request, we’ve learned in the first six weeks since the state’s dashboard when live just eight complaints were filed.
They include two against the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s office and one on Orlando Police, Jupiter PD and the Broward Sheriff.
In Orange County, one complainant alleged the sheriff’s office there had refused to investigate concerns of “illegal immigrants visiting” her “place of employment.”
Sunny Crays filed that complaint.
“A law enforcement officer's job is not to decide which laws to enforce, it’s to enforce all the laws equally,” she told Investigative Reporter Katie LaGrone recently.
Crays is security guard at a Florida amusement park and grew concerned about contracted workers who show up to the park for day work.
“The ID’s that they were showing were, I mean, a lot of them looked fake to be honest with you,” she said.
Crays said she didn’t know about the state’s dashboard until a friend sent it to her.
“I do think it’s a good thing that it's being kept track of because, my personal feelings on the matter are, if something is a law then it's the law,” she said. Crays said she got a call from Florida’s Department of Law Enforcement about her complaint but hasn’t heard anything since.
On Monday, during a press conference in Tampa on Immigration, Investigative Reporter Katie LaGrone asked the state’s immigration czar if any of the complaints filed to the dashboard have resulted in action.
“The Florida Department of Law Enforcement does its preliminary inquiry and sees whether an expanded investigation is appropriate. So that's where that lies. I don't have any other information to share on where that is right now,” Keefe said.
LaGrone also asked what Keefe makes of the minimal number of complaints that have been filed so far.
“I don't know what to attribute that to,” responded Keefe.
Governor DeSantis offered his thoughts.
“I think it's because we have legislation in place that basically says if you don't do maximum participation with federal immigration authorities, that can constitute a neglect of duty, which would trigger the Governor's ability to suspend you from office. I think that's why you don't have as many complaints,” he said.
For Crays, her concerns had nothing to do with politics or immigration for that matter, instead, she said she was simply thinking about the law.
“I did my responsibility as a citizen. I gave the information to law enforcement. If they choose not to go forward with that information, then that's not on me. I'm in the clear from my perspective,” she said.
Earlier this year, Orange County’s Sheriff said he believed immigration enforcement should be left up to the feds not the state.
We reached out to the Orange County Sheriff’s office for comment but have not heard back.
