Juntos & Temple Law Find Widespread/Messy Collaboration Between ICE & PA Local Law Enforcement
Philadelphia may be a bold and proud Sanctuary City, but as we must so often remind ourselves, we’re still in Pennsylvania which is, frankly, a lot less proud and filled with shameful things. Among them: An ongoing collusion with ICE that may be heating up rather than cooling down. So says a new report from Juntos and the Stephen and Sandra Sheller Center for Social Justice at Temple University, to be unveiled in whole at press conference in South Philly tomorrow. In advance, however, Juntos has released the above infographics (feel free to share widely) along with a summary that bullet-points the report’s big findings.
County jails systematically share information with ICE on a weekly, if not daily basis.
County probation officers work with ICE to entice immigrants to come in for appointments so they may be arrested by ICE.
Pennsylvania counties receive millions of dollars for jailing ICE detainees, who are being held for civil immigration violations.
In 2017 and 2018, the ICE detainee population in Pennsylvania increased.
Inspection reports of these county jails have revealed that ICE detainees lack access to medical care.
ICE has actively courted police departments in Pennsylvania to engage in federal immigration enforcement.
The lack of formal written policies in police departments about interactions with ICE has created an opening for individual police officers to act based on their own personal inclinations.
What the groups hope to do is let sunlight be the best disinfectant here, and that constituents across PA will make their voices and common sense heard. “Local governments are finally recognizing the value of immigrants in their communities and rejecting the Trump administration’s tactics,” said Miguel Andrade, Communications Manager of Juntos. “We are hopeful that local governments will reconsider how to best use their resources to serve their local communities rather than the federal ICE enforcement machinery.”
Update: You can now read the full report here.
