Here is his Executive Order to protect the residents of Philadelphia and avoid fear of anyone in uniform interfering with law enforcement. Anyone know if Mayor Walsh is protecting Bostonians from ICE raids? How about your city or town? See below:
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EXECUTIVE ORDER NO. __-16
POLICY REGARDING U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS
ENFORCEMENT AGENCY DETAINER REQUESTS
WHEREAS, immigrants make significant contributions to every facet of the City of
Philadelphia’s economic, educational and cultural life; and
WHEREAS, City government has a responsibility to both maintain public safety and
ensure that residents feel secure, respected and able to interact with public safety officials
without fear; and
WHEREAS, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE) has recently
discontinued its “Secure Communities” program. Secure Communities had shifted much of the
burden of federal civil immigration enforcement onto local law enforcement; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Homeland Security and ICE have instituted the new
Priority Enforcement Program (PEP) to replace Secure Communities; and
WHEREAS, it is incumbent upon the Federal government and its agencies to both listen
to individuals concerned with this new program, and ensure that community members are both
informed and invested in the program’s success; and
WHEREAS, unless and until this happens, the City of Philadelphia should not comply
with detainer requests unless they are supported by a judicial warrant and they pertain to an
individual being released after conviction for a first or second-degree felony involving violence;
NOW, THEREFORE, I, JAMES F. KENNEY, Mayor of the City of Philadelphia, by
the powers vested in me by the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter, do hereby order as follows:
SECTION 1. No person in the custody of the City who otherwise would be released
from custody shall be detained pursuant to an ICE civil immigration detainer request pursuant to
8 C.F.R. § 287.7, nor shall notice of his or her pending release be provided, unless such person is
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being released after conviction for a first or second degree felony involving violence and the
detainer is supported by a judicial warrant.
SECTION 2. The Police Commissioner, the Prisons Commissioner and all other
relevant officials of the City are hereby required to take appropriate action to implement this
order.
SECTION 3. Executive Order 7-15 (Policy Regarding U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement Agency Detainer and Notification Requests in Instances of Terrorism or Violence)
is hereby rescinded.
SECTION 4. This Order shall take effect immediately.
________________________ ____________________________
Date James F. Kenney, Mayor
…on what legal ground can a municipality interfere with the enforcement of federal law? This sounds like nullification.
There is no reason local law enforcement should be involuntarily deputized as ICE, particularly when that prevents them from doing effective enforcement of all of the other laws. And there is a provision in there for complying with warrants, court orders, and the like.
the Supreme Court has placed limits on how far the federal government can go in enlisting the apparatus of state and local government in enforcing its laws.
A big part of why prohibition enforcement was such a disaster was the non-cooperation of many state governments. Maryland famously refused to enact any prohibition ordinance, while others passed very weak ones or allocated no money for enforcement. The Feds proved incapable of enforcing it on their one.
Going even further back, a big part of why the Fugitive Slave Law of 1850 was so unpopular in the North and why it, more than anything, pushed New England to widespread support for abolition, was that it involuntarily deputized local citizens to aid federal marshals in the capture of “fugitive” slaves.
As of August: http://www.bostonherald.com/news_opinion/local_coverage/2015/08/where_are_these_sanctuary_cities_in_massachusetts
Nutter had made Philly a sanctuary city back in April 2014 and then rescinded that order in his last week in office. He’s awful enough of a person to do something like that.
So this is nothing new. Not to distract this fine thread with the burning questions of police reform, but part of the problem is that we do ask too much of police departments which are stretched and do not have the personnel or training to compassionately deal with a load of issues. A great piece on local NPR today about how EMTs should be specifically requested for mental illness cases since police have no idea how to handle that.
Similarly, let ICE and immigrant advocate case workers be the primary contact persons. It’s the federal government’s problem until comprehensive immigration reform comes about, and it should be a federal enforcement solution. It’s certainly not the job of local police departments.
I am interested in this issue but stretched to thin to research it just now. I am assuming one of the fine minds on BMG can inform me. Also, I don’t see Arlington on that Sanctuary City list.
Just because municipality X is not a “sanctuary city” doesn’t mean that they conduct immigration enforcement on the local citizenry, and detain those whose status so requires on behalf of ICE. The sanctuary city seems more like one of those symbolic things that local governments might chose to do.
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/blog/2014/08/20/boston-trust-act-passed/