It’s not uncommon to hear about “sanctuary” cities or counties, in which illegal immigrants arrested are not reported to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for possible deportation.
It is much more unusual for a jurisdiction to drop the “sanctuary” moniker. However, if the Biden administration’s border crisis continues, Butler County, Pennsylvania, could set a precedent.
Butler County, in western Pennsylvania, was listed in an online list of sanctuary jurisdictions compiled by the conservative Center for Immigration Studies until last week, according to WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh.
On Tuesday, however, “the county prison board clarified its relationship with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE.”
“The policy reads that the Butler County Prison will accept ICE detainers that include a warrant, the prison will send a list of inmates to ICE on a weekly basis, and ICE will be permitted access to the facility and inmates as appropriate,” WTAE reported Tuesday, the same day the policy was updated.
According to WPXI-TV in Pittsburgh, members of the prison board voted unanimously to end any kind of sanctuary policy.
According to the Cranberry Eagle, a newspaper based in Butler County’s Cranberry Township, state Rep. Stephenie Scialabba stated that while the county was not a sanctuary jurisdiction “in practice,” its previous policy was sufficient to place it on the CIS list.
According to WTAE, Scialabba led the effort to clarify the county’s policy after one of her constituents informed her of the county’s inclusion on the list, which included 16 other counties in Pennsylvania.
Yes, a single person contacting an elected representative started the ball rolling toward this change. The county was removed from the CIS list on Tuesday afternoon, according to the Cranberry Eagle.
“The sanctuary designation did not reflect our intentions or practices,” said Scialabba, who represents a district in Butler County, according to WTAE.
“We are a county of security and law and order.”
According to county District Attorney Richard Goldinger, a Republican, illegal immigration has seriously eroded law and order.
“Our crime is not just DUIs and retail theft anymore. We have drugs,” Goldinger said, according to WTAE.
“Again, that stuff has not come from citizens that are making fentanyl in Butler County. It’s being brought here.”
Seizures of fentanyl at the Mexican border have continued to rise, with Fox News reporting in December that officials on both sides of the border had made a record number of seizures in 2022.
And it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out when the deadly synthetic opioid began pouring over the border in truly staggering quantities — in July 2021, just six months into President Joe Biden’s administration. According to Customs and Border Patrol data, more fentanyl was seized at the border in the fiscal year 2021 than in all of the fiscal year 2020.
According to WTAE, Butler County Commissioner Kim Geyer, a Republican, said seeing the county on a list of sanctuary jurisdictions “created a lot of heartache and angst” for those who felt it didn’t share the community’s values.
“They come here, they think this is a safe place to commit crimes. And it is not,” Scialabba said, according to WPXI.
“It’s a safe place to live here and work here and we welcome you. We want immigrants here, that’s what our country’s about. But you have to come here legally, you can’t come here and think we won’t cooperate with ICE.”
In other words, if you are in the country illegally and are arrested in Butler County, expect to be deported.
So, are these the values of the 16 other Pennsylvania counties that are currently designated as sanctuary jurisdictions? Or are they on the side of increased overdoses, increased crime, and decreased safety?
It’s either one or the other. You can’t have it both ways. And if you want to call yourself a “sanctuary” for people whose very presence in the United States is illegal, you’re siding with the latter.
