Pinellas County Sheriff Bob Gualtieri revealed during a press conference that the vast majority of the looters arrested in the area after Hurricane Helene and Hurricane Milton were illegal aliens.

Both storms impacted Pinellas County, which is located on the Gulf Coast portion of central Florida, and forced many residents to evacuate. Law enforcement officials increased patrols in areas impacted by the storms to arrest individuals seeking to loot the abandoned properties.

Gualtieri said in the press conference that forty-one of the forty-five looters arrested by the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office amid the storms were illegally present in the United States. Most were from Latin American countries such as Mexico, Cuba, Venezuela, and Honduras.

“As the Pinellas beaches recover, we’re going to continue these patrols and arrest everyone we can who is stealing from the vulnerable victims of two back-to-back storms that have devastated our community,” Gualtieri remarked. “Our effort at protecting the community has not stopped.”

Gualtieri commented that the charges now faced by the looters arrested in Pinellas County include armed robbery, burglary, loitering and prowling, grand theft, vandalism, and trespassing.

The issue of illegal immigration has emerged as one of the most important in the present election cycle as various crimes committed by illegal aliens provoke nationwide debate.

The majority of Americans now support mass deportations, with 51% of the public endorsing such a response to mass illegal immigration, according to a survey conducted earlier this year by Axios. Even as 68% of Republicans back the policy, some 42% of Democrats reported that they also agree with mass deportations, while roughly 47% of independents said the same.

When they were asked about their “greatest concern around illegal immigration,” roughly 21% of respondents mentioned crime, drugs, and violence, while another 18% referenced added costs to taxpayers, and some 17% cited risks related to national security and terrorism.