6 days ago
Centre County, State College accused by Trump admin of defying immigration law
Both Centre County and State College were listed by the federal government Thursday as being among the more than 500 'sanctuary jurisdictions' accused of defying federal immigration law — although it is unclear why.
Neither the county nor the borough received formal notification of its alleged noncompliance, both entities said Friday in separate written statements to the CDT. However, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) noted in a news release that such notification is forthcoming.
Until then, although the community has largely billed itself as welcoming to all, it's unclear exactly why Centre County and State College were targeted.
'Centre County Government just became aware of this as well,' County Administrator John Franek said in an email. 'The county has not received any type of correspondence from the federal government regarding this matter.'
According to the DHS, both State College and Centre County were listed among the 'sanctuary jurisdictions' — states, counties and cities — that 'protect dangerous criminal aliens from facing consequences and put law enforcement in peril.' The DHS said it determined the 'sanctuary jurisdictions' based on factors like compliance with federal law enforcement, information restrictions and legal protections for immigrants who entered the country illegally.
Again, it's unknown exactly how that applies to Centre County and State College. Borough leadership clarified in January 2017 that it was not a sanctuary city, noting a previous council resolution simply made value statements about immigration. Meanwhile, the county government never passed anything related to 'sanctuary jurisdictions,' a point also made by the Centre County Democratic Committee.
'This is merely a distraction by the current administration from their attacks on the poor, veterans and our communities,' the committee added in a written statement.
Neither the borough nor the county offered any clues as to why they might be included on the DHS' list. They largely declined to answer questions from the CDT, including whether the federal government requested help with immigration enforcement so far this calendar year.
The DHS, which has received pushback across the country, said the extensive list it created was not static and that the status of jurisdictions could change.
'Note that the list can be reviewed and changed at any time and will be updated regularly,' its website read. 'No one should act on this information without conducting their own evaluation of the information.'
In Pennsylvania, five cities and 11 counties were placed on the list, which was created as a direct result of Executive Order 14287, signed on April 28. The primary risk of being on the list is the potential loss of federal funding, which would have a significant economic impact on the communities involved.
Among the five cities on the list are Gettysburg, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, State College and York. The 11 counties are Adams, Allegheny, Centre, Chester, Clarion, Dauphin, Delaware, Lehigh, Montgomery, Montour and Northampton.
Immigration was a key campaign issue for President Donald Trump, and his administration has promised to annually deport more than a million immigrants. However, based on the current numbers, Trump is on pace to deport less than a quarter of that — and needs a significant boost to approach his goal.
Former President Barack Obama carried out 432,000 deportations in 2013, an average of 36,000 per month, the highest annual total since records were kept. Trump carried out 17,200 deportations this past April.
