\u201cnon-regulatory advisory\u201d<\/a> issued by Gov. Josh Shapiro\u2019s administration and the Pennsylvania departments of Health, Human Services, Drug and Alcohol Programs and Aging in particular notes the Trump administration \u201clifted restrictions\u201d that previously prohibited federal immigration agents from making arrests or otherwise carrying out immigration enforcement actions \u201cin protected areas such as medical and behavioral health care facilities and social services establishments.\u201d<\/p>\nBeyond providing general information about federal law applicable to possible enforcement at such facilities, the state departments \u201calso advise facility leadership to develop a written policy and standard operating procedures for what to do if immigration enforcement agents arrive on facility property or seek information about patients, residents, participants, visitors, or staff for immigration enforcement reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gaughan, who called in January for \u201cclear guidance\u201d as it relates to the county\u2019s legal rights and responsibilities regarding immigration enforcement, proposed earlier this month legislation that would bar county agents and agencies from assisting with such operations under most circumstances.<\/p>\n
The proposed \u201cProtect Our Neighbors Act\u201d ordinance would not and could not prevent federal agents from enforcing immigration law in the county, but would prohibit the county and its employees from cooperating in that enforcement unless presented with a valid judicial warrant signed by a judge.<\/p>\n
Absent such a warrant, the county would not permit federal immigration agents to access a person in the county\u2019s custody, would not transfer any person to federal immigration agents, would not spend time responding to ICE or federal Customs and Border Protection inquiries and would not permit agents from either agency to use county facilities, information or equipment for investigative purposes related to immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n
The ordinance would also bar county agencies and officials from investigating a person\u2019s citizenship or immigration status for the purpose of immigration enforcement, prevent the county from entering into agreements that permit state or local governments to enforce federal civil immigration laws and prohibit any contract or agreement whereby federal immigration detainees would be housed in the Lackawanna County Prison, among other features.<\/p>\n
While discussion and debate about the ordinance and immigration issues more broadly have dominated recent commissioners meetings, it\u2019s unclear if and when commissioners might move to advance and ultimately adopt it. A county legal review of the ordinance remains ongoing.<\/p>\n
Gaughan circulated the Shapiro administration advisory in an email Monday to fellow Democratic Commissioner Thom Welby, Republican Commissioner Chris Chermak and others, calling it \u201csignificant.\u201d The state, he said in the email, \u201cis explicitly advising local governments and service providers to put clear boundaries and procedures in place.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is precisely the policy gap the Protect Our Neighbors legislation I introduced for discussion a few weeks ago is intended to address,\u201d Gaughan said. \u201cThe goal of that proposal has never been to obstruct law enforcement, but to ensure that county employees understand their legal obligations, protect sensitive information, and are not placed in the position of making complex legal determinations in the moment.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cGovernor Shapiro\u2019s advisory reinforces that this is not theoretical \u2014 it is an operational responsibility for counties right now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Reached by phone, Welby noted the proposed ordinance remains under review and said he wants to discuss the legislation and its potential implications with District Attorney Brian Gallagher, Sheriff Mark McAndrew, prison Warden Tim Betti and the prison board.<\/p>\n
Chermak, who emphasized that \u201cwe\u2019re going to follow the law,\u201d also stressed that county attorneys are reviewing the legislative proposal.<\/p>\n
But the lone GOP commissioner also said \u201cthe whole thing is getting out of control\u201d \u2014 an apparent reference to the fervor with which residents on all sides of the immigration debate have reacted to the proposal in recent weeks \u2014 and noted he\u2019s \u201cnot going to interfere with federal law enforcement.\u201d<\/p>\n
While a refusal to cooperate with or assist federal immigration agents does not amount to interference, Chermak\u2019s comments suggest a skepticism about the ordinance that may make its path to adoption more difficult.<\/p>\n
County ordinances require two readings, with introduction at one meeting and a vote at another, and commissioners have yet to formally introduce the ordinance in question.<\/p>\n
To the extent they ultimately do, it\u2019s unclear what if any changes officials may make to a sample version Gaughan provided earlier this month.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A recent state advisory about potential federal immigration enforcement at health care and social services facilities bolsters the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[201,182,139,28,178,180,179],"class_list":["post-122141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-scranton","tag-lackawanna-county","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-scranton","tag-scranton-headlines","tag-scranton-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}