As Florida braced for one of the largest hurricanes in recorded history, the Polk County Sheriff’s Office released a warning to residents: If you have an outstanding warrant, you will not be allowed to enter a shelter.
The Sheriff’s Office made the announcement Wednesday morning via Twitter, stating law enforcement will be at every shelter checking IDs. If it’s discovered that an individual has an arrest warrant, he/she will be taken into custody and transported to jail, which the office calls a “safe and secure shelter.”
Registered sex offenders and predators will also be turned away.
“Officers are legally obligated to take a person into custody if they have a warrant,” Sheriff’s Office spokeswoman Carrie Horstman told the Orlando Sentinel. She also pointed out that officers do not have any way of immediately seeing the type of crime the warrant is connected with, which means anyone with a minor offense—like an unpaid parking ticket—will be arrested if they try to seek refuge at a Hurricane Irma shelter.
Twitter users were understandably outraged by this policy:
Horstman later confirmed undocumented immigrants would not be turned away because of their status.
“We aren't sitting there looking for people to arrest,” she said. “We are sitting there to keep people safe.”
