The agreements bring counties into compliance with part of a state law (SB 2-C) passed during a special legislative session this month aimed at boosting enforcement of illegal immigration. Under the agreements, sheriffs’ deputies with special training can process immigration “detainers” issued by federal authorities to keep inmates in jail. The inmates can be kept up to 48 hours before being picked up by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

“Their priority is apprehending and deporting as quickly as possible those who are criminally illegal, public safety threats, national security threats, those who have been previously deported and come back again,” Gualtieri said Monday at a news conference in Winter Haven. “The most pressing need they have is people who are booked into our jails … so these people are not released back into our community to commit more crimes.”