Two Florida sheriff’s offices on Tuesday took back planned bonuses for their immigration officers, striking tens of thousands of dollars in already-approved state grant requests.
The Sarasota and Palm Beach County sheriff’s offices are the first local law enforcement agencies to decide they don’t want the state to reimburse them for immigration officer bonuses — because the counties don’t plan to give them.
This comes despite Sarasota’s $136,000 and Palm Beach’s $59,000 applications already being approved by the state in September. Both agencies have since had a change of heart.
“The money was returned because of one of our agency core values, fairness,” Sarasota public information officer Matthew Binkley told the Phoenix in an email. “The few personnel that were chosen to carry out immigration duties in a law enforcement action are no better or different than any deputy that carries similar responsibilities who is not 287(g) trained.
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“This is not a specialty for bonus pay,” he added. A 287(g) agreement allows law enforcement to act as immigration agents under the direct supervision of ICE. Florida in 2025 mandated all county sheriffs enter into these partnerships.
Palm Beach’s public information officer, Teri Barbara, echoed Sarasota in her email to the Phoenix.
“Our Sheriff, [sic] has determined that no PBSO employees will receive the immigration related ‘bonuses,'” Barbara wrote. “The funds are being redirected to equipment, such as RAPID ID devices that are utilized to identify individuals in the field utilizing a fingerprint.”
In September, Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Cabinet approved both Sarasota’s reimbursement request for $44,136.50 in bonuses for 41 law enforcement officers and $92,579 in bonuses for 86 warrant service officers, and Palm Beach’s for $43,060 for 40 designated immigration officers and $16,147.50 in bonuses for 15 warrant service officers.
Instead of bonuses, Palm Beach asked for an additional $1,055,565.40 for 67 new rapid ID devices and 72 portable radio packages. Sarasota received an additional $25,000 for subletting detention beds to ICE at $75 a day, $39,675.82 for mileage reimbursements, $72,039 for officer overtime, and $913,500 for a two-year subscription to an AI policing system called Peregrine.
DeSantis and the Cabinet serve as the State Board of Immigration Enforcement, created in 2025 to oversee state-level immigration enforcement actions. They’re in charge of a $250 million state grant designed to encourage and reimburse local law enforcement participating in the nationwide illegal immigration crackdown.
The counties’ walk-backed funds come at the same time as another first for the board: It denied part of another county’s immigration grant request during its meeting Tuesday. The Lee County Sheriff’s Office saw nearly two-thirds of its ask slashed, the first time all counties’ immigration reimbursements weren’t approved.
The board has approved more than 101 grants valued at more than $60 million since September — although just more than $93,000 has been disbursed.
The only other counties that cut down on their previously approved requests were Alachua and Polk Counties. Both slashed their asks for detention bed funding in half.
Florida Phoenix is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Florida Phoenix maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Michael Moline for questions: info@floridaphoenix.com.
