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In an effort to rectify a mistake that listed Lycoming County as a sanctuary county, a policy has been drafted and approved by the Prison Board which will clarify the prison's procedures for collaborating with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency regarding ICE detainers in a manner which is consistent with a 2014 court decision.
The court case cited in the policy dealt with a U.S. citizen of Puerto Rican descent who was held in a Lehigh County prison on an ICE detainer while the agency investigated if he was an undocumented immigrant.
The policy was approved at a special meeting of the board, chaired by Sheriff Mark Lusk, and will now be sent to the Center for Immigration Studies to determine if the county's status will be changed.
"We'll see what they do with it," Commissioner Scott Metger said following the meeting.
The board had met in executive session prior to the meeting to finalize the policy, which was read by Prison Warden Brad Shoemaker.
The policy approved by the board stated: The Lycoming County Prison shall enforce each law, mandate, request and order of the federal government relating to immigration, so long as the law, mandate, request or order does not conflict with the rights guaranteed under the Constitution of the United States, or the constitution of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, as interpreted by the courts.
The procedure includes:
• The Lycoming County Prison shall provide a list of inmates to the appropriate ICE entity upon request from ICE and in such a manner as determined by the warden;
• The Lycoming County Prison shall permit ICE agents access to the prison and inmates as deemed appropriate by the warden;
• The Lycoming County Prison shall accept and register ICE detainers upon a commitment that is accompanied by a warrant or order of arrest or other legally sufficient justification for detention. If there is a commitment on new or pending criminal charges and an ICE detainer, the ICE detainer shall be kept in the file, for the purpose of notification of ICE prior to release, but the ICE detainer should not be entered into the system as a whole;
• The Lycoming County Prison shall communicate with ICE in order to provide as much notice as reasonably practicable regarding inmate releases, release dates or transfers in such a manner determined by the warden. Generally no sooner than two hours before the time of an inmate's anticipated release, the prison will contact ICE and advise that the inmate is being released on the criminal charges;
• An inmate should not be held longer than two hours pending release to allow local field officers to assume custody of the inmate pursuant to the authority of the ICE detainer. In the event that ICE does not assume custody of the inmate within two hours of the notification phone call the inmate will be released pursuant to normal procedures.
The county being listed as a sanctuary county had been a "hot button" issue for some members of the community who fear that immigrants are being brought in on flights at the airport and are being housed at various locations in the county. Many had voiced their concerns at a commissioners' meeting earlier this month.
Following the vote to approve the policy, Commissioner Marc Sortman said, "I would like to thank the warden for being in front of an issue brought to the commissioners' attention."
As well as "The fact that he took the time to respect the commissioners' issue, our residents' issue and trying to get ourselves properly organized and taken care of for any future events," Sortman added.
"I think we've addressed the issue sufficiently," Lusk said, adjourning the meeting.