Latest news with #immigrationlaw
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
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.
Yahoo
26-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Dr. Phil Is Shadowing Trump's ICE Raids for Some Reason
Television personality Dr. Phil scored exclusive access to the start of President Donald Trump's long-promised mass deportation efforts on Sunday, and he made sure to get it all on camera. The longtime talk show host, whose full name is Phil McGraw, aired live coverage of a series of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raids in Chicago on his streaming platform MeritTV over the weekend. He was joined by Trump's border czar, Tom Homan, who was recently appointed acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). 'It's a pretty high-risk mission that we're going on,' Dr. Phil said in one video, claiming that the operation was aimed at capturing over 200 'high-value targets,' or people with criminal histories. 'This truly is a targeted ICE mission because they're not sweeping neighborhoods like people are trying to imply,' he said. 'I know that because I've been involved in this.' ICE said it began conducting 'enhanced targeted operations' alongside partner agencies in Chicago on Sunday 'to enforce U.S. immigration law and preserve public safety and national security by keeping potentially dangerous criminal aliens out of our communities.' In a conversation with Homan, Dr. Phil repeatedly asked the acting ICE chief to downplay claims that agents were raiding schools and workplaces. 'Are you going into schools and arresting children at schools?' the TV host asked, prompting a 'No' from Homan. 'Are you going into businesses and sweeping through there and taking anybody with a tan and seeing where they're from?' Dr. Phil followed up. 'We go into businesses for a criminal enforcement operation,' Homan responded. 'But again, sweeps don't occur anywhere.' ICE drew outrage last week when agents arrested a U.S. military veteran in a Newark raid. 'Forget the false narrative of sweeping neighborhoods looking for people of different color than us,' Homan said. 'Forget that hogwash and look at what we actually do. We're proving it to them. How can you argue with the system we've set up?' In an earlier interview with ABC News, however, the border czar sang a different tune. Homan refused to rule out school raids targeting young men, arguing that they would assess situations on a 'case-by-case' basis. 'Name another agency, another law enforcement agency [that] has those types of requirements, that they can't walk into a school or doctor's office or a medical campus,' he said.
