Hillsborough County Sanctuary Status Supported By Diversity Council

TAMPA, FL — Hillsborough County will explore becoming a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants if members of the diversity council get their way. The board, which serves in an advisory capacity to the Hillsborough County Commission, voted Wednesday night to recommend further exploration of the issue, several media outlets have reported.

The Hillsborough County Diversity Advisory Council’s Wednesday decision comes on the heels of President Donald Trump’s temporary ban on immigration from seven predominately Muslim countries. Trump has also been moving forward with plans announced during his campaign to build a wall between the United States and Mexico.

Sanctuary counties and cities have also been specifically called out by the new administration. Last month, 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.

See also: Sanctuary County Claim ‘Absurd,’ Pasco Sheriff Says

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.

The Washington-based Center for Immigration Studies in 2015, called out Pasco, Pinellas and Hillsborough as sanctuary counties even though none of the three have formally proclaimed themselves as such. When the report was released in 2015, sheriffs from all three areas took issue with its findings.

“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.

Whether Hillsborough County Commissioners will follow through with the advisory board’s recommendations to explore proclaiming sanctuary status remains unclear. The commission would have the final say in the matter.

Photo via the Hillsborough County Facebook page