741. And one of the huge stories that's come down is a list of some 200 sanctuary cities. All of this uh began boiling over when a woman was killed out in San Francisco by an illegal immigrant who had a record who had been deported five times and had come back. He was on his sixth time back in this country. And we find that so many crimes have been committed by these felons who are in this country illegally. And uh one of the reasons is there are sanctuary cities that refuse to move them anywhere, refuse to deport them, refuse to jail them or anything else. And they name two sanctuary counties, Hillsboro County as well as Penllis County. And Sheriff Bob Galtier of Penllis County joins us right now. And sheriff, there are a lot of people questioning why we are a sanctuary county. Well, Jack, we're not. You know, I I don't know where you're getting that information from. Uh you know, that website that's got it out there. That's one of the problems with anybody can post anything on the internet. You know, it's not it's abs absolutely not true. Uh we've participated uh with ICE and their secure communities program for at least 10 years. Everybody that comes into the Penelis County Jail uh has their fingerprints taken. they're run against the ICE database. If they're illegal, ICE is notified. If they give us the proper paperwork, we hold them for ICE. Uh if they request us to notify them before they're released so they can come pick them up, we do that. So, it's really a bunch of nonsense. Um and, you know, it it it's really irresponsible for somebody to put that out there like that because it's absolutely not true in Penelis County. Yeah, that thing has popped up in a lot of different locations and it's being looked at as gospel now. uh again because it has come up in so many different locations pretty much the same map. The source of it is some some advocacy group. It's not from the government. It's not from some credible source. It's some internet not right. It it is it's from the center for immigration studies. And who are they? They're nobody. They're they're and their information is totally wrong. They listed seven counties by the way not just two that you mentioned. Yeah. Well, I know they mentioned uh Hills, Penellis, Hernando, and Pasco, and then three of the counties down south, right? But it's just not true, you know. And we participated, heck, I met two weeks ago up in Washington with one of the assistant secretaries from DHS. They're transitioning the secure communities program to a PEP or priority enforcement program. I have a meeting coming up with them. We fully cooperate. We fully participate. We notify them. You know, immigration though, and be clear about that, immigration is a federal issue. uh state and local law enforcement have absolutely no authority, zero, whatsoever, under any law to quote deport anybody or to take anybody into custody for any immigration violation. What we can do and should do is to cooperate with the federal government so the federal government can effectively do its job. And we do that a thousand% in Penelis County. Always have and always will. But uh we can't deport anybody. Now, could it be that ICE is uh allowing these people to go free once you all turn them over to them? or do you all know what happens to them afterward? Sure. That's that's the problem. And the problem is is ineffective immigration policy in this country and but that's by the federal government. That's by the administration and has nothing to do I I cannot I can have zero say in immigration policy. I can't make any decisions. I can't arrest anybody, deport anybody, hold anybody, charge anybody. Zero nothing. It's totally 100%. Now, once we notify ICE, here's the big problem is we notify ICE, we're letting them out, but guess what? they don't come pick them up and and we are powerless then. Okay, if we notify him, say, "Look, this guy's here illegally. Uh we we followed your procedures. We've notified you. Um he's getting out at 5:00 p.m. today. We notify him hours or days ahead of time. ICE doesn't come. I can't hold somebody in the jail." Uh that his that the state charges have been resolved and I've told them to come pick them up. If they give us a court order or they give us some sort of legal process to hold them under their federal charges, by all means, we'll hold them all day long. But we're powerless. But that's where the breakdown is is because the federal government, what they'll tell you is they don't have the resources uh to deal with all these people. That's a federal government issue, not a state and local issue. Well, Sheriff, can you tell us how often that happens that they don't come to pick them up? They don't come more than they do. Wow. Yeah. Um and it's all the time. And and they're very limited when they're transitioning. and I encourage you and your listeners to do this is to to look at this new PEP, this priority enforcement program that is the successor program to secure communities that's been around forever. They've narrowed the scope of it tremendously. It only involves people that have been sentenced in the county jail. The forms that they're going to give us now don't deal with that person that's arrested, okay, for on a crime. It only has to do with people who are sentenced. So, they've even narrowed the scope of who they want uh even more. And and you're going to see more of this because as people get arrested on various charges and they're here illegally, once the judge in the state court issues a bond or the person is released in some fashion, um that form they're giving us now doesn't even tell us to notify them under those circumstances. Sheriff, Sheriff, you uh you say that Penllis County is not involved in this. Uh we we contacted the people in Hillsboro County and got someone in Sheriff G's office said that they've been doing this since what, August? When was it? I think I doing what? Uh they that they've been releasing uh prisoners since August. Sanctuary city standard. Well, I don't know about Hillsboro County. I can't speak to anything in Hillsboro County. I can speak to Penelis County and if we get a valid order from US immigration, from ICE, um telling us to hold those people, by all means, we hold them. If they come into the jail, we run everybody. We notify ICE. If ICE says they're illegal, is they want us to notify them before they are released. We notify ICE before they're released. So, I can't speak to anything about what happens in in Hillsboro County, but as long as we get a valid order, there's a legal process or the request to notify ICE, we do it. Um, and and have we again, we've participated in secure communities for over 10 years now. So, you know, you know, I can't hold anybody unless I got a valid court order or the most I can do is to cooperate fully with ICE and notify them that this person uh is being released. and if you don't give me a court order, I'm going to have to release them and give them ample opportunity to get that court order or for them themselves to come over and pick them up and put them in federal custody. That's great, but I can't do that because we don't have the authority to do that. Well, Sheriff, we surely appreciate you're coming on board with us this morning on AM Tampa Bay. the Penllis County Sheriff Bob Gautieri and he puts the uh blame where it where it certainly ought to be and that's with ICE which we've been hearing for a long time. They've been letting people go and they are certainly doing that and Sheriff, thanks a million for being on board here this morning. Thanks so much. Okay. All right. You're welcome. Take her.