PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Agencies under Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro’s control continue to cooperate with federal immigration authorities as the governor publicly criticizes ICE for its violent actions in Minneapolis and secretive warehouse purchases in Pennsylvania.<\/p>\n
While there are limits, collaboration still happens through a handful of key avenues, a Spotlight PA review of Shapiro administration policies and statements shows. Advocates for immigrants say even this limited cooperation threatens their communities.<\/p>\n
A State Police policy that restricts the agency\u2019s ability to enforce federal immigration law, adopted under Shapiro\u2019s Democratic predecessor, still allows troopers to share information with ICE.<\/p>\n
Federal immigration enforcement agencies have access to personal information that Pennsylvanians have shared with the commonwealth, such as driver\u2019s license numbers and headshots.<\/p>\n
And state prison officials honor requests by ICE to temporarily hold individuals who have \u201cbeen convicted and sentenced for crimes by courts.\u201d In one recent case, ICE picked up<\/a> a central Pennsylvania man cleared of a murder charge as soon as he was released from a state prison<\/a>.<\/p>\n These policies, all of which existed before Shapiro was in office, now matter for the estimated hundreds of thousands of undocumented immigrants<\/a> in Pennsylvania who could face deportation under the Trump administration\u2019s sweeping crackdown, as well as for immigrants\u2019 families and communities.<\/p>\n While President Donald Trump and his administration have highlighted enforcement against people who commit crimes, 73% of those detained by ICE<\/a> during a recent period had no criminal convictions, according to the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.<\/p>\n Shapiro has not hidden that the state works with ICE, nor has he promised new limits on existing cooperation. After an ICE officer in Minnesota shot and killed Renee Good<\/a> in January, Shapiro said on MS Now that the state works with \u201claw enforcement at every level to keep communities safe.\u201d<\/p>\n But he has also increasingly criticized federal immigration efforts, saying the Trump administration uses government for \u201cpure evil\u201d<\/a> after agents killed Alex Pretti<\/a> in Minneapolis. And he denounced ICE\u2019s secretive purchase of a warehouse in Berks County for a detention center, saying<\/a> \u201cit just creates more chaos, confusion, and fear.\u201d A spokesperson for the governor told Spotlight PA the administration is evaluating other steps to protect Pennsylvanians from \u201cunconstitutional and immoral attacks on our rights and freedoms.\u201d<\/p>\n For immigration advocates, the statements aren\u2019t enough. They have called on Shapiro to end<\/a> collaboration with ICE, limit the agency\u2019s access to law enforcement databases, and prohibit information sharing by state prisons.<\/p>\n “Shapiro, there is no gray area,\u201d one speaker said at a 200-person protest outside a January event to promote the governor\u2019s new memoir. \u201cNow is the time.\u201d<\/p>\n Here\u2019s what you need to know:<\/p>\n What Pennsylvania State Police can do<\/p>\n Under a four-year-old policy, State Police cannot engage in immigration enforcement. However, the agency can tell federal authorities if personnel pull over or otherwise interact with an undocumented person.<\/p>\n Speaking at an event to celebrate the launch of his memoir, Shapiro argued his administration draws clear boundaries.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do not do ICE\u2019s work for them here in Pennsylvania,\u201d Shapiro said, according<\/a> to the Capital-Star. \u201cOur State Police [don\u2019t] ask for people\u2019s status, and we do not share any of that information with the federal government.\u201d<\/p>\n But the state\u2019s written policy on immigration enforcement<\/a> is less definitive, and legal experts say it allows State Police to assist with ICE operations and share information with federal authorities.<\/p>\n The policy says State Police personnel may \u201cnot stop, search, investigate, or attempt to arrest\u201d someone based on their immigration status, citizenship, or nationality \u2014 and that an \u201cimmigration detainer cannot form the independent basis for any detention or arrest.\u201d<\/p>\n The policy was adopted in response to a lawsuit by the ACLU of Pennsylvania, which claimed State Police racially profiled<\/a> Latinos to enforce federal immigration laws and violated their civil rights. The Wolf administration authored a new policy, which is still in place, as part of a settlement agreement<\/a>.<\/p>\n To encourage people to report crime and cooperate with investigations, everyone \u201cmust feel secure\u201d that interacting with State Police, \u201cordinarily, will not lead to an immigration inquiry,\u201d the policy says.<\/p>\n Exceptions remain. Vanessa Stine, an ACLU of Pennsylvania staff attorney who focuses on immigrants’ rights, told Spotlight PA that \u201cwhile it’s true that the policy says, generally, [State Police personnel] shouldn’t be asking people about immigration status, in the event that they happen upon that information, that information could be shared by an officer with ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n The policy says that if an officer learns in the course of an encounter that an individual, including a vehicle operator, passenger, victim, or witness, is a foreign national, and then the officer shares that information with federal immigration authorities, they are required to file a report with State Police.<\/p>\n In 2025, there were 50 instances of State Police troopers contacting ICE after such an encounter, according to the Shapiro administration, which argued this outreach is rare. State Police conducted hundreds of thousands of traffic stops the year before<\/a>.<\/p>\n The policy also doesn\u2019t prevent State Police from assisting federal immigration enforcement from, for instance, providing security or traffic control around operations, Stine said.<\/p>\n Stine said such a blurring of the lines could lead to a deterioration in community relations between State Police and immigrant communities, because \u201ccommunity members aren’t going to see the difference\u201d if uniformed state officers are nearby when ICE arrests are ongoing.<\/p>\n In a letter<\/a> responding to immigrant advocates’ concerns, the Shapiro administration did not address State Police enforcing security cordons.<\/p>\n Instead, the letter said that State Police do \u201cnot and will not make operational decisions based on ICE priorities \u2014 the department’s priority is the safety of Pennsylvania residents, and will make all operational decisions to ensure public safety.\u201d<\/p>\n What information does the state share with ICE?<\/p>\n Another key concern for immigration and privacy advocates is that Pennsylvanians’ personal information \u2014 including date of birth, address, height, eye color, and headshots \u2014 can be accessed by ICE without a warrant.<\/p>\n This information is available through the Pennsylvania Justice Network, or JNET, a state-run law enforcement database. Eleven state agencies and commissions, as well as county agencies and judicial systems, \u201cmake their information available\u201d through JNET<\/a>. Most critically, the system includes information provided to PennDOT.<\/p>\n Caitlin Barry, a lawyer who conducts research at Villanova University, said ICE is among those that can access this \u201cincredibly secretive system.\u201d<\/p>\n Barry discovered ICE\u2019s access while working on a report<\/a> for a legal clinic at the university and a coalition that supports giving driver\u2019s licenses to undocumented immigrants with privacy and data protections. The report, based on open records requests, was published in 2020, before Shapiro became governor.<\/p>\n It also found that the photos available to ICE can be run through facial recognition software. Federal immigration authorities have expanded<\/a> use of the software in recent months, which Barry argues raises civil liberties concerns.<\/p>\n A separate 2024 report<\/a> from the ACLU, which Barry also contributed to, examined federal records the Department of Homeland Security uses to \u201cmake the case for deportation of an undocumented person\u201d; it found 16 instances \u201cwhere ICE used JNET to identify people for arrest\u201d between 2016 and 2020.<\/p>\n The report noted a 2020 arrest in which ICE used JNET to \u201csearch photos and select a person for arrest who had a scheduled probation appointment in Lehigh County. ICE officers went to the probation office and arrested the person.\u201d<\/p>\n Barry said law enforcement\u2019s access to this database, including ICE, is unfettered.<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s no review. You self-certify. It’s not as if someone requests access, and then that request is getting evaluated,\u201d Barry said.<\/p>\n Immigration advocates want the Shapiro administration to allow ICE to access JNET only if the agency has a criminal warrant. That would significantly limit ICE\u2019s ability to use it for immigration enforcement, Barry said, as violating immigration law is usually a civil rather than criminal offense.<\/p>\n Policymakers in a handful of states, such as New York, New Jersey, and Washington<\/a>, have already made similar moves to block ICE\u2019s access, Barry said.<\/p>\n The Shapiro administration disagreed with Barry\u2019s characterization that access is \u201cunfettered,\u201d saying that JNET searches cannot use criteria like immigration status, country of origin, race, or ethnicity, and that each time an outside law enforcement agency accesses these types of systems, the state logs and tracks it.<\/p>\n The administration has also said that \u201cthere are legitimate investigations\u201d involving undocumented immigrants that \u201crequire immigration enforcement agencies to seek access to information contained in Commonwealth-run databases.\u201d Even if the state added new restrictions, federal law enforcement officials might still be able to access this information through other databases or agencies, it added.<\/p>\n Advocates have also raised concerns about federal immigration officials accessing other data, including through state public benefit programs. The administration has said that it has gone to court to block federal agencies from unlawfully acquiring Pennsylvanians\u2019 personal information.<\/p>\n While some immigration advocates have called for the administration to prioritize legislation to allow undocumented people to obtain driver\u2019s licenses, the Shapiro administration has expressed concerns that the federal government might try to obtain the information necessary to implement such a policy.<\/p>\n What can state prison officials do<\/p>\n In October 2025, ICE apprehended a Centre County man whose murder conviction had recently been overturned by a judge.<\/p>\n The man, Subramanyam \u201cSubu\u201d Vedam, had been in Pennsylvania Department of Corrections custody and had an active detainer<\/a> over unrelated drug charges.<\/p>\n Correctional facilities across the country may hold some individuals ICE is interested in for up to 48 hours<\/a> to allow federal agents a chance to apprehend them; this is known as a detainer. Advocates want Shapiro to end communications and collaborations between state prisons and ICE.<\/p>\n A spokesperson for the Shapiro administration said that the Department of Corrections, which runs state prisons, \u201chonors active detainers with respect to individuals who have been convicted and sentenced for crimes by courts and [are] eligible to be incarcerated in Pennsylvania prisons.\u201d<\/p>\n The Shapiro administration said state prisons cannot and will not hold someone with an ICE detainer beyond 48 hours, but did not address whether the agency otherwise shares information on those it detains.<\/p>\n Access to state buildings<\/p>\n Advocates have also called on Shapiro to block ICE arrests in state facilities without a judicial warrant or order.<\/p>\n A Shapiro spokesperson said that the administration has \u201cnot received any reports of federal authorities arresting individuals on immigration charges inside a Commonwealth facility.\u201d<\/p>\n Last year, the Shapiro administration issued a policy for state agencies on how to handle requests from federal immigration agents. It places some limits on access.<\/p>\n The policy says all law enforcement officers can access public spaces in commonwealth facilities, such as DMVs or public benefits\u2019 offices, and may access nonpublic areas \u201conly when legally authorized to do so.\u201d It lays out how workers should proceed and who they should contact when law enforcement officers request access to nonpublic spaces or when they provide a warrant or other documentation.<\/p>\n The administration also issued guidance for school districts on how to develop policies<\/a> around immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n ICE arrests in courts \u2014 which don\u2019t operate under Shapiro \u2014 are another concern for immigration advocates. Courts in Pennsylvania are overseen by the state Supreme Court and its administrative arm.<\/p>\n Stacey Witalec, spokesperson for the state court system, told Spotlight PA that \u201cICE, like any state or federal law enforcement agency, may access public areas of judicial facilities while performing official duties. However, judicial functions and administration must always take precedence, and law enforcement activities should never disrupt the administration of justice.\u201d<\/p>\n Witalec added that the courts don\u2019t track immigration detentions within court buildings, although such detentions have reportedly occurred at or around courthouses in Philadelphia<\/a> and the Lehigh Valley<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advocates have also called on Shapiro\u2019s administration to never lease a state facility to ICE. The Shapiro administration says it doesn\u2019t and will not do so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA \u2014 Agencies under Democratic Gov. 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