A workshop on the local impacts of illegal immigration is drawing controversy in another Tampa Bay-area county. At the request of Sarasota County Commissioners, some law enforcement leaders gave presentations about the issue. The workshop was similar to that held in Manatee County in April, and several Sarasota County residents rose to speak out against it. The workshop, which discussed the cost of illegal immigration to the county, saw presentations and statements from the sheriff and the state attorney. Critics have decried the meeting and said it was aimed at blaming the immigrant population for draining local resources. Some civic groups held a rally ahead of the meeting Friday, but during the presentations, speakers highlighted financial impacts including crime, human trafficking and the inflow of illegal drugs. "I have heard you say this before that we are a border county even though we're not attached to a specific country. Those products and fentanyl are coming into our community and that's definitely a concern," Neil Rainford, a Sarasota County commissioner, said. The featured speakers also talked about other public health and safety issues like overdosing. "We treat those as homicides, we send our forensics units out, we document, we send detectives out, they do follow-ups. A lot of times our undercover group will try to go find the dealer that supplied that fentanyl," Sarasota County Sheriff Kurt Huffman said. So far this year, Sarasota County recorded $176,000 in costs to remove 30 illegal immigrants who committed a crime. According to Huffman, it cost $378,000 to remove nearly 60 last year. MORE: https://www.wtsp.com/article/news/local/sarasotacounty/illegal-immigration-workshop-sarasota-county/67-eeb190a8-badd-44df-919d-67d44b339400 ►Subscribe: https://on.wtsp.com/youtube ►Website: https://www.wtsp.com/ ►Facebook: https://facebook.com/10TampaBay ►X: https://twitter.com/10TampaBay