A Bucks County judge heard from witnesses last Friday in a case filed against Sheriff Fred Harran and Bucks County over his agreement to participate in the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) 287(g) task force.
The program enables local law enforcement to support ICE in immigration enforcement and perform certain duties. Harran believes it will make the community safer.
However, the Democratic county commissioners opposed the move. The case, filed by the ACLU and the Community Justice Project, seeks to stop it and asks Judge Jeffrey G. Trauger to issue an injunction. The judge gave both sides 10 days to file briefs before he issues his ruling.
The plaintiffs are Make the Road States, NAACP Bucks County Branch, Buxmont Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, and resident Juan Navia.
Democratic county commissioners Bob Harvie and Diane Ellis-Marseglia opposed the program. During a May meeting, Harvie linked the debate over immigration enforcement to the rise of fascism in Germany. Harran, who is Jewish, called on Harvie to apologize for his remarks.
The lawsuit claims Harran cannot enter into an agreement with ICE without the commissioners’ permission. Harran told DVJournal he believes this is the first case of its kind in the U.S., as it targets an elected official’s ability to enter into agreements.
“All eyes in Pennsylvania are on Bucks County regarding this issue,” he said.
Friday’s lengthy hearing featured testimony from three plaintiff witnesses and Harran.
Harran testified that the federal government will cover all expenses associated with the training and that the county will not incur any costs. That would include training for officers, their salaries while working with ICE, and a new law enforcement vehicle. Computers and phones are also included, he said.
Harran added he would only ascertain the immigration status of those with criminal charges, not witnesses or victims.
Questioned by an ACLU lawyer, Harran said the federal government had not yet sent the money because of the pending court case. However, he added that he could call federal officials, and they would immediately send a check. On Monday, Harran told DVJournal he spoke to federal officials who confirmed their commitment.
Diana Robinson, co-executive director of Make the Road PA, testified that her organization is based in Lehigh County and that she lives in Allentown. She said her group had a handful of residents from Bucks County. After questions from Trauger, she clarified that there were two members.
Doylestown resident Heidi Roux, executive director of The Welcome Project in Hatboro, Montgomery County, also testified. Roux said she feared the 287(g) program would lead to racial profiling and claimed the “community” is afraid. She said she was racially profiled at a Doylestown playground for speaking Spanish to her child and was told her child not to read Spanish-language books outside their house.
However, Roux admitted she had a friendly relationship with Harran and had visited his office three times to discuss the ICE program.
Karen Rodrigues of Bensalem said she is Puerto Rican and a U.S. citizen but is afraid of being taken into custody by ICE at her church or while attending local festivals. She was asked if she had ever been stopped or detained by the Bucks County Sheriff’s Office. She said no, but recalled that once a sheriff’s officer looked at her from his car window while passing by.
Both Rodrigues and Roux are members of Make the Road.
As for the witnesses, Harran said, “They’re getting their feelings from CNN.”
“The groups lack standing and failed to present a scintilla of evidence of imminent and immediate harm, which is fundamental in obtaining a preliminary injunction,” said Wally Zimolong, a lawyer representing Harran. “This case is a political hit job fabricated by a shadowy network of pro-illegal immigration NGOs and their ACLU handlers. The plaintiff groups and NGOs tried to intimidate us. Their conduct is reprehensible, particularly in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk at the hands of a radical leftist and the attempted left-wing assassination of ICE agents in Dallas. My message to the ACLU and their left-wing allies is clear — I have never been intimidated by the violent and radical left and I am not about to start now.”
“You don’t have to go back very far into recent history to see how futile and fruitless these types of agreements have been in other Pennsylvania counties,” said Stephen Loney, senior supervising attorney at the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “Local law enforcement is not equipped to operate as immigration agents and often make serious mistakes that can put the lives and livelihoods of those they target in serious jeopardy and cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Bucks County deserves better.”
“At a time when radical and reactionary anti-immigration elected officials assume they can act with impunity to implement a chaotic and cruel agenda targeting immigrants across the United States, it’s critical to send a message that nobody is above the law,” said Witold Walczak, legal director at the ACLU of Pennsylvania. “Sheriff Harran is no exception.”
Doylestown resident Mariann Davies, whose parents are legal immigrants from Ecuador, attended the hearing to support Harran. She told DVJournal she found the testimony of nonprofit employees to be “self-serving.” She disagreed with their characterization of Bucks County as racist or that law enforcement racially profiles people.
“That has definitely not been my experience,” said Davies, a lawyer. “Or the experience of my family or other Hispanics that live here.”
She also questioned the credibility of the plaintiffs’ witnesses. Her father is 93 and a Korean War veteran, she said. Her parents are naturalized citizens.
Many immigrants who came legally “don’t agree with the whole illegal immigration, crossing the border, demanding things, taking advantage of our social services and all that kind of stuff,” she said.
Harran said, “We’re waiting for the judge’s decision.”