Police investigate death threats against Allegheny County Council President Pat Catena over ICE bill

The Allegheny County Police Department is investigating death threats made against the president of the Allegheny County Council.

Pat Catena said the death threats were made against him and his family ahead of Tuesday's vote on a bill prohibiting county employees from cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. He attended Wednesday's meeting virtually.

"It just sickened me to the bottom of my stomach. At first, I was mad. I was scared. The whole gamut of emotions ran through me," Catena said on Wednesday.

In the past year, Pennsylvania saw an attack against Gov. Josh Shapiro in Harrisburg, and last week, threats were made against Pittsburgh Mayor Corey O'Connor. Catena said he welcomes passion about politics, but this goes beyond that, adding it has no place in a democracy.

"We should be settling our differences at the ballot box. You should never do what happened yesterday in any way, shape or form," Catena said.

While the bill about not cooperating with ICE passed, Catena abstained from voting. He took a few minutes during the meeting to address his concerns about political violence and said it's appalling that it reached this point. When asked if this would push him out of public service, the council president said it does quite the opposite.

"I'm doubling down on it. I'm going to work harder because I believe in our great democracy. I believe in being passionate about your beliefs. I believe in debating beliefs," Catena said.

There were no suspects or arrests as of Wednesday evening.