Allegheny County Council discusses legislation focused on interactions with ICE

Allegheny County Council is tackling the issue of how to deal with I.C.E.

It’s a topic that’s been taken up by a number of area governments in recent weeks.

Tuesday evening, hundreds of people packed council chambers to advocate for legislation that would do a number of things, including:

• Prohibiting county employees from inquiring into an individual’s citizenship or immigration status unless required by court order.
• Prohibiting county employees from disclosing citizenship or immigration status of others unless required by court order.
• Prohibiting county employees from entering into a contract with a federal agency to provide access to any database with the purpose of assisting in immigration enforcement.

It follows several high-profile I.C.E. arrests in Allegheny County.

In December, federal agents took a man from Nicaragua into custody in Pittsburgh’s Mount Washington neighborhood.

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Over the weekend, I.C.E. released Jose Flores of Oakmont after he spent more than a week in custody.

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Seven councilmembers co-sponsored the legislation, including Council-at-large Bethany Hallam.

“We should not be doing I.C.E.’s job for them. We should not be using county taxpayer dollars,” she said. “It actually gives leverage for supervisors to be able to issue sanctions.”

Todd McCollum, Pittsburgh’s GOP Chair, spoke to Channel 11 on behalf of the county’s Republican Party.

“I’m not sure why the county insists on getting involved in this matter. It’s a federal issue. It’s a public safety matter,” he said. “The county is trying to enact anti-whistleblower legislation and that shouldn’t be upheld by any court.”

Hallam told me she expects a vote to happen in two weeks.

County Executive Sara Innamorato has pledged to sign it into law.

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