Judge allows Bucks County Sheriff’s Office to work with ICE – NBC10 Philadelphia

A court ruling allowed members of the Bucks County Sheriff’s Office to work with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a task force model.

The decision allows select deputies within the office to utilize a federal immigration database. Bucks County Sheriff Fred Harran described the task force as a “common-sense initiative” that allows his deputies to identify individuals who are in the country illegally who were taken into custody based on existing criminal charges and outstanding warrants in Bucks County.

“Today’s court ruling is a victory for the law-abiding residents of Bucks County and a validation of a common-sense approach to public safety which fully leverages partnerships and resources to keep our communities safe,” Harran said. “This decision affirms our ability to use this simple tool to ensure individuals who commit crimes in our county are held fully accountable – regardless of their immigration status.”

Harran’s announcement of the plan to work with ICE back in April led to considerable backlash. Harran defended the plan during an appearance on NBC10 @Issue and Battleground Politics with Lauren Mayk. During the discussion, former Philadelphia councilmember Maria Quiñones-Sánchez spoke out against law enforcement working with ICE, referring to it as a “very slippery slope.”

“Everybody wants dangerous people out. But when you’re not providing due process and you have limited resources…that’s very, very dangerous,” she said. “That’s not going to make us safer. When people are hiding. When undocumented folks cannot go to work safely and help the economies of Bucks County, Franklin County, you can go across Pennsylvania. Without those immigrants, some who are undocumented, Pennsylvania’s economy would crash. So we have to be really careful.” 

Harran then defended his efforts to work with ICE, stating the task force would only go after those who were charged with crimes in the Bucks County region. 

“What is so bad about making the arrests, which we do now, but now, afterwards, ship them out so they can’t commit crimes tomorrow? Because our courts, our judicial system, our prisons are packed,” Harran said. “They cannot hold the amount of people. So why not save the U.S. taxpayer dollar and ship them back to the country they came from? Only those people that have already been charged with a crime. I’m not talking about somebody owning a pizza shop or working a landscape company. That’s not who we’re talking about here.”

While Harran’s application to participate in the task force program was approved by ICE in May, the ACLU of Pennsylvania, Make the Road Pennsylvania, NAACP Bucks County, and the BuxMont Unitarian Universalists filed a lawsuit in September to fight the plan, claiming the sheriff made the move illegally and that the decision should have been made by the Bucks County Commissioners.

“The sheriff does not have the authority. That decision has to be made by the county commissioners and that did not happen. He did his own thing,” Danitria Sherman, of the ACLU, told NBC10 in September.

Other community groups and leaders in Bucks County spoke out against the plan as well.

“It’s very harmful because the agreement says that people can be stopped based on suspicion of their status,” Diana Robinson, of Make the Road Pennsylvania, said in September. “So, it’s very harmful because it could lead to racial profiling,”

On Oct. 15, a ruling from Bucks County Judge Hon. Jeffrey Trauger sided with Sheriff Harran, however.

“The Bucks County Sheriff’s Office routinely participates in several task forces including Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT), Drug Enforcement and the Canine Unit. The County Commissioners possess certain powers and duties under Pennsylvania law separate from other county officials,” the ruling states. “Pennsylvania law makes clear that the Commissioners’ powers and duties do not come at the expense of the powers and duties of other county officers.”

While reacting to the judge’s ruling, Harran described the program as a “targeted public safety tool, not a license for general immigration enforcement.”

“Today’s ruling is a definitive rejection of the misinformation that has served to confuse residents and hamper the critical mission of our law enforcement officers,” Harran said. “Now that the court has affirmed our position, we can move past these distractions and continue our mission to protect the families of Bucks County.”

In a response to the court’s decision, Robinson rejected the notion that the taskforce was about public safety.

“This is about intimidation,” Robinson said. “This is about turning our neighborhoods into surveillance zones. This is about weaponizing local law enforcement to carry out ICE’s harmful agenda. This decision doesn’t mean that we’ll stop fighting to hold Sheriff Harran accountable. Rather, we will redouble our efforts in this case and continue to fight for what is right.”

Meanwhile, Stephen Loney, a senior supervising attorney at the ACLU of Pennsylvania, said that the legal battle was far from over and they planned to appeal the judge’s decision.

“It’s unfortunate that the judge in this case failed to appreciate what the law clearly states; the sheriff does not have authority to sign onto a 287(g) agreement with ICE,” Loney said. “We will appeal this decision and, in the meantime, we will continue to work to hold Sheriff Harran accountable to the rule of law.”