![\"Pinellas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/ice-meeting-scaled.jpeg\")
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPinellas County Public Safety Council meeting on September 14th at Pinellas County Justice Center. Photo by Luiza Campos.<\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPinellas County Public Safety Council meeting on September 14th at Pinellas County Justice Center. Photo by Luiza Campos.<\/p>\n
Listen:<\/p>\n
Residents called for the Pinellas County Public Safety Council to push against the use of county resources for immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n
While the council has no legal power on county decisions, it advises county leaders on jail operations, populations and costs.<\/p>\n
The council held a meeting on September 14 following a ProPublica<\/a> investigation into the Pinellas County jail.<\/p>\n It found the jail released and rebooked about 170 immigrants to bypass a 72-hour detention limit.<\/p>\n Member of the Speak to your Sheriff Coalition, Linda Stoller, said she doesn\u2019t feel very protected by county councils anymore.<\/p>\n \u201cI never felt at all threatened by immigrants and I haven\u2019t been by my neighbors. But I am threatened by the thought of police coordinating with ICE and literally kidnapping people out of their homes and then keeping them in our jails for days and days,\u201d Stoller said.<\/p>\n During a press conference, Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri said ICE authorized the rebookings.<\/p>\n He also claimed to be unaware of them until October last year.<\/p>\n The investigation found the resets continued until July.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Creative Loafing<\/a> reported the Pinellas County jail received a federal waiver allowing them to hold immigrants for longer than 72 hours.\u00a0<\/p>\n That information wasn\u2019t public until five days after the ProPublica investigation was published.<\/p>\n The council did not address any of this information.<\/p>\n They even looked at a quarterly report<\/a> on population changes within the Pinellas County Jail that had a significant increase in ICE holdings.<\/p>\n It showed 503 individuals in June 2026, compared to 343 in June 2025 and 82 in June 2024.<\/p>\n Stoller was very disappointed the council did not mention the residents\u2019 concerns on immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n \u201cI stayed for the whole meeting because I thought that when they looked at the report<\/a> or when they had a chance to just give a comment that they would at least react to the fact that all those people stood before them,\u201d Stoller said.<\/p>\n Gualtieri did not attend the meeting, so Chief Deputy Deanna Carey represented him.<\/p>\n Throughout the meeting, the Pinellas County Public Safety Coordinating Council also highlighted a local program<\/a> designed to help homeless \u201cland back on their feet.\u201d<\/p>\n