Pinellas County Sanctuary Status Sought By Activists

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — A handful of activists gathered on the steps of St. Petersburg's City Hall Tuesday, hoping to convince City Council members to put a little pressure on Pinellas County to declare itself a sanctuary for illegal immigrants.

Making such a move would put the city and county in the crosshairs of President Donald Trump’s executive order that seeks to strip federal grant funding from jurisdictions that function as safe harbors for people who are in the country illegally.

Mayor Rick Kriseman recently authored a blog post that proclaimed St. Petersburg “a sanctuary from harmful federal immigration laws.” That post gained applause from those in favor of naming the jurisdiction a sanctuary, but the words turned out to carry very little weight. Since Pinellas County is technically charged with cooperating – or not – with federal immigration officials, sanctuary status would have to be pursued on a policy level by the county.

That move, however, is not something Sheriff Bob Gaultieri is exactly a fan of. Following Kriseman’s post, Gaultieri reiterated his commitment to cooperating with federal authorities.

Gaultieri also made his position on sanctuary status known back in 2015 when the Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies released a report that called out Pinellas, Pasco and Hillsborough counties for being sanctuaries for illegal immigrants.

Gualtieri fired back on Facebook, writing:

“Many of you have heard that Pinellas County is a Sanctuary County—this is totally false. 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.”

Law enforcement in Pasco and Hillsborough counties also took issue with that report.

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.

Whether St. Petersburg’s City Council will pursue creating a resolution to present to the Pinellas County Commission remains unclear.

A similar request made by the Hillsborough County Diversity Advisory Board for that county to consider sanctuary status was shot down by County Commission Chairman Stacy White. White said he is adamantly opposed to supporting any action that would make Hillsborough County “anything less than a county that respects and follows the rule of law.” Immigration policy and enforcement, he said, falls within the scope of the federal government. “I have no desire to see Hillsborough County defy or obstruct the enforcement of federal immigration laws.”

To read more about Tuesday's gathering at City Hall, visit the Tampa Bay Times online.

Photo courtesy of the City of St. Petersburg Facebook page