CHAMBERSBURG – Franklin County Commissioners heard criticism at their Wednesday, Feb. 11, meeting from three residents who raised alarms about Sheriff Benjamin Sites’ agreement with Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
One speaker, Chambersburg resident and former Borough Councilman Herb Dolaway, voiced concerns about the financial and emotional impacts of the ICE agreement. He noted that every hour sheriff’s deputies spend performing federal law enforcement takes away from the time spent on the local law enforcement they are charged by state law with performing.
Dolaway told stories of several green card holders who have stopped leaving their homes unnecessarily over fear of being detained despite abiding by immigration law.
Referred to as “287(g),” the program allows the Secretary of U.S. Homeland Security to enable local authorities to “perform certain functions of an immigration officer” at the expense of the county. Basically, the Department of Homeland Security allows local law enforcement to perform immigration officer duties that the federal government would otherwise pay federal law enforcement agents to perform.
ICE pays to train officers on how to enforce federal law, but the Memorandum of Agreement signed by Sheriff Sites states that the Franklin County Sheriff’s office–funded by Franklin County taxpayers with a budget approved by the Franklin County Board of Commissioners–will be “responsible for personnel expenses, including, but not limited to, salaries and benefits, local transportation, and official issue material.”
Commissioner John Flannery remarked that the commission does not have control over the sheriff’s agreement with ICE, and when asked for clarification, the county’s communication coordinator confirmed that commissioners “have no role in the…agreement with the sheriff’s office.”
But according to Title 16 of the Pennsylvania code, county sheriffs do not have the power to make contracts to provide county services, only commissioners do. Additionally, commissioners have the exclusive power to decide how to spend taxpayer money.
Other Pennsylvania counties have also expressed concern with incurring legal liability over performing federal law enforcement, which could leave county taxpayers on the hook to pay for injuries, worker’s compensation, or legal settlements.
