How Pinellas Sheriff Bob Gualtieri became an architect of mass deportation

Immigration Archives - WMNF 88.5 FM · Sep 10, 2026

You can’t accuse Bob Gualtieri of going with the flow. The Pinellas County sheriff has the rare combination of brains and guts to go against the current and move the needle on nationwide policy. His undertakings are enabled by his legal savvy and the respect held for him by law enforcement and legislators.

One of Gualtieri’s most consequential projects over the last decade has been transforming county jails into engines of mass deportation. While his mission has been wildly successful—with hundreds of jails enacting enforcement policies he designed—Gualtieri is often treated as an…