A Florida sheriff is facing a lawsuit over his announcement that people seeking shelter from Hurricane Irma would be given background checks, NBC News reported.

Andres Borreno argued in his suit that Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd "misused emergency shelters as unlawful pedestrian checkpoints to conduct suspicionless warrant/criminal background checks on human beings desperate for shelter."

Borreno was part of a Virginia legal services organization ferrying undocumented immigrants to shelters and sent families away from a Polk County shelter when he learned they'd have to have an ID card and submit to warrant and background checks, the group's chief executive said.

A spokeswoman for Judd said the sheriff, busy dealing with the hurricane, hasn't read the lawsuit.