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Florida Board Approves $40 Million in Immigration Grants With Unexplained Cut to Lee County Request

Approvals concentrate on biometric and AI technology with disbursement still lagging.

Overview

  • The board approved about $14 million in new awards and $26 million in amended requests, according to Executive Director Anthony Coker.
  • County proposals center on iris scanners, surveillance towers, license plate readers, AI-enabled body cameras and Peregrine policing software.
  • Lee County’s ask fell from roughly $22–23 million to about $9 million, and its six-year AI body-cam plan was reduced to two years at $4.3 million.
  • The reduction was not explained during the meeting, and the amended Lee County document was posted more than six hours after adjournment.
  • More than $60 million has been approved since September but only $93,544 disbursed, as the state also awaits a federal reimbursement that lawyers have questioned.