DN editorial: Toomey's attack on sanctuary cities backfires
WHEN IN DOUBT, try fear-mongering. That's the tactic used recently by Sen. Pat Toomey, who introduced a bill to deny federal housing and community-development money to any municipality that declared itself a sanctuary city.
WHEN IN DOUBT, try fear-mongering. That's the tactic used recently by Sen. Pat Toomey, who introduced a bill to deny federal housing and community-development money to any municipality that declared itself a sanctuary city.
These cities - Philadelphia among them - opted out of cooperating with the federal government's program of aggressively deporting illegal/undocumented immigrants.
Toomey is following the lead of Donald Trump, the Republican Party's presidential candidate, whose hysterical anti-immigrant stance has energized the conservative base.
The Republican senator, facing a tough re-election fight this year against Democrat Katie McGinty, wants to tap into some of that energy. To bolster his argument, Toomey conjured up a chilling image: the city allowing dangerous criminals released from local prisons to roam the streets, instead of notifying federal immigration agents, so they could swoop down and deport them.
When in doubt, make stuff up.
In fact, Philadelphia does report those arrested or convicted of first- or second-degree felonies to the U.S. Office of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. It also reports suspected terrorists and those involved in violent crimes. It does not automatically turn over the names of people charged with or convicted of misdemeanors.
It wasn't always this way. During most of the Nutter administration, the police worked hand-in-glove with ICE to catch immigrants. Before 2014, ICE could ask the city to detain any individual for up to 48 hours without offering proof of status. Police also gave ICE agents direct access to the department computer that recorded arrests in real time.
The Obama administration began this "Secure Communities" enforcement effort as part of its political balancing act. It would not go after every undocumented immigrant, but would target those who posed a real threat. Don't go after the Mexican kid washing dishes in a restaurant kitchen, go after the Honduran gangster who delivered and sold drugs wholesale.
Target the sharks, not the minnows.
It didn't work out that way. ICE data available for the period between 2008 to 2011 shows that out of the 421 people referred by Philadelphia police to ICE, only 97 were suspected or convicted felons. Nearly six out of 10 were listed by ICE as "non-criminals," people arrested for offenses such a public intoxication, disorderly conduct, or possession of small amounts of drugs. If that young Mexican dishwasher got drunk one night, got into a street fight with a friend, and was arrested, he could end up in ICE's net and be deported.
Advocates for the immigrant community and others - including then-Councilman Jim Kenney - argued against this program, not only because it swept up so many minnows, but also because it undermined police efforts to fight crime. Police had enough trouble gaining the trust of the immigrant community without everyone thinking they were ICE agents in blue uniforms. It wasn't the police's job to enforce immigration laws, anymore than it was ICE's job to protect the public from crime.
A few days after he took office as mayor, Kenney signed an executive order making Philadelphia a sanctuary city.
This week, the U.S. Senate voted against considering Toomey's bill. We'd like to think his colleagues saw it for what it was: an election year ploy. It was a wise decision.
When in doubt, do the right thing.