Jenkintown limits local police collaboration with ICE

From Delco to Chesco and Montco to Bucks, what about life in Philly’s suburbs do you want WHYY News to cover? Let us know!

Jenkintown Borough Council on Wednesday approved an updated policy limiting local police’s collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Residents and activists pushed back on the original measure, which passed in September, saying that the policy allowed local police to assist ICE without judicial warrants.

The new policy directs police not to:

• Inquire about someone’s immigration status during routine police interactions or when they access borough services.
• Collect or share personal information, including immigration status and country of origin, except when required by state or federal law.
• Enter into a voluntary collaboration agreement with ICE, such as the 287(g) program.
• Honor ICE administrative detainer requests.
• Assist federal immigration enforcement unless agents have a valid judicial warrant or cooperation is otherwise required by law.

At a borough council meeting Wednesday night, Mayor Gabriel Lerman acknowledged the pushback from residents on the original policy. Jenkintown is committed to being “a welcoming, inclusive community,” he said.

“The mission of the Jenkintown Borough Police Department is public safety, not civil immigration enforcement,” Lerman said. “We are committed to protecting the rights, dignity and well-being of every person, regardless of immigration status. By separating local policing from immigration enforcement, we build trust, ensure fairness and make clear that fear should never prevent someone from calling the police for help.”

If ICE requests assistance, he and the police chief will review the request and “act only in accordance with legal requirements,” Lerman said.

“These practices help build trust and ensure that immigrants and nonimmigrants alike feel safe calling the police, reporting crimes and seeking help when needed. No one should fear interacting with … local law enforcement.”

Jasmine Rivera, executive director of Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition, said the new policy is “improved,” but her organization still has “concerns” about “language that allows for proactive cooperation and collaboration with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”

Rivera cited provisions stating local police may, on “limited occasions,” assist federal immigration enforcement agents in detaining a criminal offender who is also in violation of federal immigration law.

She also expressed concern about other provisions that say the department could notify federal immigration agents when arresting and charging an immigrant who has committed a misdemeanor or felony offense of state law, or at the direction of a legal representative of the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office.

Rivera also opposes the policy’s provision allowing for local police to secure the scene of an ICE operation.

“It is not public safety for local law enforcement to assist ICE in any way,” she said. “What our community is going to see is that local police and ICE work together, and that is how you destroy community trust.”

According to immigrant rights activists, as of last week, six townships and boroughs in Montgomery County have passed policies limiting local police collaboration with ICE.