Pittsburgh-area congressman, business leaders, and law enforcement call for immigration reform amid ICE cooperation
Local police agencies in western Pennsylvania have entered into partnerships with ICE, Immigration and Customs Enforcement, to arrest and detain people suspected of being in the country illegally.
A KDKA-TV investigation has found that counties that have these agreements arrest a far greater number of immigrants than those that don't.
Now, one local congressman is calling for an end to these agreements, saying the majority of those arrested have no criminal record. Just civil immigration violations.
Andy Sheehan: Your feeling is, you don't make the law?
Sheriff Michael Slupe: No, I do not make the law. I enforce the law.
In Butler County, Sheriff Michael Slupe has a so-called 287g agreement, enlisting 13 of his deputies to help ICE arrest and detain immigrants. Since that partnership began a year ago, they've arrested 150 people, more than half of the total 231 ICE arrests in the county.
The partnership, however, has come under fire from construction companies who say they rely on immigrant labor and complain that long-time workers with no criminal record are being followed, arrested, and deported.
We found 30 were convicted criminals, 23 had pending charges, but 178 had only immigration violations.
"Let them alone, let them work, let them be gainful contributors to our society," said Jim Echenlaub of the Builders Association of Metropolitan Pittsburgh.
In neighboring Beaver County, we found similar numbers.
The county has a cooperation agreement with ICE, as do several municipalities, and that cooperation accounted for 92 of the total 134 detentions this year.
Allegheny County does not cooperate with ICE and has seen 457 arrests this year, more than Beaver and Butler, but with more than a million residents, it's a far smaller number per capita.
This past week, Congressman Chris Deluzio, who represents parts of Beaver and Allegheny counties, called on local police agencies to end these agreements.
"287g agreements are increasing ICE enforcement rates in our communities, all while redirecting time and resources into federal immigration law enforcement that is overwhelmingly targeting people who pose no risk to our communities," Rep. Deluzio said.
President Trump has also said ICE might be going too far by deporting workers.
"Get the killers out, get the drug dealers out, but let the people - some of them have been here 10 and 15 years - work a deal for them," the president told 60 Minutes.
The Department of Homeland Security pays police agencies $15,000 per quarter for each participating officer.
Beaver County Sheriff Tony Guy has a 287g agreement with ICE, but said his deputies take no money, don't go on raids, and don't account for the higher number of arrests in the county. He said it's time to re-examine immigration enforcement and afford long-time workers protection.
"That we got to a point where we picked up the bad guys - or the vast majority of the bad guys - and this thing can be scaled back," he said. "Congress really has to wrestle with what they haven't addressed in a long time, and that is comprehensive immigration reform."
