Upper Darby restricts collaboration with ICE in sweeping ordinance

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!

Upper Darby Township Council unanimously passed legislation restricting collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a meeting Wednesday night.

Modeled in part on Philadelphia’s “ICE Out” legislation passed in April, the ordinance is one of the most comprehensive laws of its kind passed in the region.

Legislators and a majority of speakers during Wednesday’s public hearing touted the importance of restrictions on ICE collaboration in a municipality where nearly a quarter of the residents are foreign-born.

“It sends a clear message that our focus and priority are the people in our community,” said Upper Darby Mayor Ed Brown, who supported the ordinance. “We will follow the law, but we will do everything in our power to protect our community and keep everyone safe.”

Effective immediately, the ordinance:

• Restricts use of township resources — including police, employees, facilities, equipment, databases and other resources — for federal civil immigration enforcement, except when legally required
• Limits collection and sharing of information about someone’s immigration status
• Prevents township employees from detaining someone based on their immigration status, or because of an ICE administrative warrant or civil detainer
• Bans the township from entering into a voluntary collaboration agreement with ICE
• Prohibits township property from being used for civil immigration enforcement operations
• Requires Upper Darby police officers to identify themselves and refrain from wearing masks or face coverings, with some exceptions
• Requests federal agents identify themselves and limits assistance from township personnel if they do not do so
• Requires Upper Darby to reconsider some intermunicipal relationships with jurisdictions that sign a collaboration agreement with ICE, with some exceptions
• Requires training for all township departments on the policy

The restrictions do not apply to cases where ICE or other agents have obtained a judicial warrant for someone’s arrest, or cooperation with federal immigration enforcement agents is otherwise legally required.

A few community members at the public hearing spoke against the ordinance, questioning its impact on public safety and the threat of federal funding being withdrawn in retaliation for the policy.

Timothy Bernhardt, superintendent of Upper Darby Township Police, worked with the mayor and council members to revise and finalize the ordinance.

“Our motto is ‘the world in one place,’ and we are 68 different languages here,” he said. “Very immigrant-populated community, very diverse community. What this does, I hope, will make it clear on what we do, meaning the municipal law enforcement, and what federal authorities do.”

Upper Darby police do not enforce immigration, and have not and will not voluntarily collaborate with ICE by participating in what is known as a section 287(g) agreement, Bernhardt said.

That policy does not preclude fulfilling obligations under federal law, including detaining individuals with outstanding federal arrest warrants, Bernhardt said.

Bernhardt said he has been visiting houses of worship and other community spaces to inform immigrant residents that the police are “here to protect them,” and urging them to call 911 when needed.

“When you call 911 in this community, the Upper Darby Township Police Department is responding,” he said. “Not immigration, not Homeland Security, not anyone else. We are. And if you need our help, we will help you. We’re not there to answer your immigration status.”

Upper Darby ICE ordinance ‘important first step,’ community members say

Victoria Awotide, 24, said she was “proud of Upper Darby” for passing the ordinance. She’s lived in the township since her family immigrated from Nigeria in 2010.

She and other members of her family are U.S. citizens, but the new legislation is important for them as well as immigrant residents who lack citizenship status, she said.

“I’m glad that at least people will not be scared to just walk around their neighborhood,” she said.

Desi Burnette, a statewide coordinator with the Movement of Immigrant Leaders in Pennsylvania and a Delaware County resident, passed out signs reading “Hospitals in, ICE Out” ahead of the meeting. She said the legislation won’t end deportations in Upper Darby, but it is a “really important first step.”

“We’re a township and a community that has a lot of unmet needs,” she said. “It’s a really important statement to say that we’re not going to be using our police force, our property, or any of our resources to support ICE.”

Immigration enforcement detentions have been going on in Upper Darby well before the Trump administration, she said, and funding for ICE has steadily increased over the years under both parties. But under the current administration and with increased funding for federal immigration enforcement, ICE is “on steroids.”

“The result has been here in our community, here in Upper Darby, a lot of workers have been targeted by ICE, separated from their families,” Burnette said. “Our local businesses have been impacted negatively because people don’t want to come around.”

The environment of fear is also impacting young people, she said.

“I think we’re mostly here for our young people because we really believe that no young person or child in our community needs to feel like they don’t belong or that they’re not safe in their own community, which is something that we’ve seen happening,” Burnette said.

Editor’s note: Victoria Awotide’s name was updated to correct spelling.