Sanctuary County Claim ‘Absurd,’ Pasco Sheriff Says

NEW PORT RICHEY, FL — Pasco County Sheriff Chris Nocco wants the folks behind a study that implicated his county and several others in the region as being sanctuaries for illegal immigrants to hop on a plane from Washington, D.C., to see for themselves that local law enforcement upholds the laws of the land.

The report, released by the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies in 2015, calls out Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough as sanctuary counties. When the report was released in 2015, sheriffs from all three areas took issue with its findings.

Those findings, however, have recently been cast into the spotlight once again, putting some, like Nocco, on the defensive.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to withhold federal funds to those local governments that offer sanctuary to illegal immigrants.

Sanctuary cities and counties are called that because they offer sanctuary to illegal immigrants, refusing to turn them over to federal officials for deportation. Most sanctuary cities and counties have also passed laws preventing employees from even turning over information to immigration officials.

The sanctuary cities-related order reinstates an Immigration and Customs Enforcement program known as Secure Communities, under which ICE would target undocumented immigrants.

The order also directs the State Department to take whatever steps necessary to make countries take undocumented immigrants back — including withholding visas to people from that country.

It also directs that federal funds be withheld from cities and counties that don't cooperate with immigration officials.

In light of the order, Nocco is reasserting his position that Pasco and fellow law enforcement officers in neighboring counties do cooperate with immigration officials.

“The Pasco Sheriff’s Office has proven we will enforce the laws of the land and will uphold the Constitution, it is a solemn obligation that we take seriously,” Nocco wrote in a letter posted publicly in 2015 and reposted to Facebook after Trump signed the executive order Wednesday. “It is the indecisiveness and unwillingness of the federal government to make clear decisions on illegal immigration that does not allow a consistent national approach. A true ‘Sanctuary City’ can be seen in San Francisco, and the actions by their Sheriff, which allowed a killer to be on the street.”

In his post on Thursday and in an email to media, Nocco called out the Center for Immigration Studies for publishing false information.

“Yet again, we invite them to fly down and meet with us to learn that Pasco County is not a sanctuary county,” he wrote. “This is yet another DC group who puts out false information without understanding our local community.”

The 2015 report also raised the ire of law enforcement officials in Hillsborough and Pinellas counties.

“It’s certainly not true; we cooperate fully with ICE,” Hillsborough County’s Col. Ken Davis, who oversees Hillsborough County’s jails, told Patch in 2015. “We require the same thing we require to hold for anybody else. We require probable cause.”

Davis said the probable cause standard is required for any inmate to be held in jail, regardless of immigration status.

“We’re following the Constitution and we require probable cause,” he said.

Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri fired back on Facebook in 2015.

“Many of you have heard that Pinellas County is a Sanctuary County—this is totally false,” he wrote on Facebook. “Border control and immigration enforcement is solely the federal government’s responsibility; sheriffs and local police have no authority to enforce federal immigration law. However, PCSO fully cooperates with ICE and Pinellas County is NOT a Sanctuary County.”

Gualtieri went on to explain that Pinellas participates in ICE’s Secure Communities program and honors all “court orders and lawful ICE requests to hold criminal illegal aliens in our jail.”

Whether the three counties will face financial implications based on the center’s report remains unclear. The U.S. Department of Justice is reportedly reviewing potential sanctuary county and city designations.

Miami-Dade County has also taken issue with its inclusion in the report.

"I don’t believe we’re a sanctuary city," asserted Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos A. Gimenez in a television interview. "And so, maybe it’s a question of definition. If that’s the case, then we need to get together with the federal government."

County spokesman Mike Hernandez took to Twitter on Wednesday evening to clarify the mayor's position.

"@MayorGimenez does not believe @MiamiDadeCounty is a sanctuary community," Hernandez tweeted. "We cooperate with the federal government on immigration matters."

Pasco County’s designation as a Sanctuary County is based on the agency’s decision to not honor ICE detainers without probable cause, according to the Center for Immigration Studies. The center found fault with Hillsborough and Pinellas counties for the same reason. The practice, however, is one Nocco says “is based on constitutional principles annunciated by numerous federal courts.”

To read Nocco’s response in its entirety, visit the sheriff’s office’s Facebook page.

To see the center's full map of sanctuary counties and cities, visit its website.

Patch’s Colin Miner and Paul Scicchitano contributed to this story.

Image via Shutterstock