Bucks County Sheriff Terminates Partnership With ICE

DOYLESTOWN, PA — Bucks County Sheriff Danny Ceisler on Wednesday announced the official termination of a partnership between the sheriff's department and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) that would have given 16 deputies broad powers to perform immigration enforcement in the county and serve as a force multiplier for ICE.

"After careful evaluation I have determined that the certain public safety costs of this ICE partnership are greatly outweighed by any potential public safety benefits the partnership may offer," said Ceisler. "That is why this morning I signed an order terminating the 287(g) partnership between the Bucks County Sheriff's Department and ICE."

While the 287(g) program had not yet been fully implemented, Ceisler said 16 deputies had received expanded training, which would have allowed them to stop, interrogate and detain anyone who they believed to be in the country without authorization.

"My decision to terminate this program is based solely on public safety and it is my belief that this action will restore the trust between tens of thousands of our residents and the brave officers who protect and serve them," he said. "Furthermore, I signed an additional order prohibiting my deputies from asking crime victims, witnesses or court observers about their immigration status during any interaction with our office."

While the latter has been standard practice, Ceisler said the measure is being implemented "to further reassure every resident of Bucks County who had been hesitant to cooperate with our office based on what they have seen play out in sheriff's offices elsewhere."

Ceisler said since his predecessor announced plans to partner with ICE through the 286(g) program, members of the county's immigrant community have been afraid to call 911, interact with the sheriff's department, come to court or to the police station.

"The primary motivation behind my decision to evaluate the office's ICE partnership is truly the heart-breaking feedback I received from members of the immigrant communities," said Ceisler. "From the day this office signed up to have deputies perform immigrant enforcement, immigrants began living in even greater fear than they were before.

Ceisler continued, "Bucks County is home to more than 50,000 immigrants from India, South Asia, Latin America as well as Liberia and Ukraine. Those immigrants are our neighbors. They are our friends. They are taxpayers. And they deserve the protection of law enforcement in this community.

"To the members of our immigrant community, you are safe to call 911," he said. "You are safe to report crime. You are safe to come into this courthouse and testify."

Despite the termination of the agreement, Ceisler said Bucks County is not, has never been, and will not be a sanctuary county and has not severed all ties with ICE when it comes to dangerous criminals.

"We are returning to a level of partnership we've been operating on for decades under Republican and Democrat administrations," he said. "We will not be sending our deputies into the community for immigration enforcement. However, our department of corrections will continue to share information with hundreds of law enforcement agencies, including ICE.

"We will ensure that actual criminals - people involved in human trafficking, fentanyl distribution, child exploitation and violent crime and fraud and are in the country illegally - are deported, which had been the standard practice of Bucks County for decades. ICE will continue to have 24/7 access to our jail as it always has and we will continue to honor traditional orders to hold criminals who are already incarcerated through standard judicial processes that would apply to any resident."

After months of dialogue with local police chiefs and community leaders, Ceisler said, "We believe we’ve struck the right balance between protecting our community from crime, and protecting our community from fear.”

Bucks County immigrant rights leader Heidi Roux added, “This was a necessary step towards rebuilding our trust in law enforcement and will encourage the reporting of crimes and the protection of victims ... After today’s announcement our community is taking a collective sigh of relief, it’s almost audible.”