Mayor Michael Nutter should have stopped this regressive practice a long time ago:
Philadelphia police will no longer detain immigrants unless the federal government shows up with a warrant, Mayor Michael Nutter announced Wednesday morning. The mayor signed an executive order at a press conference that would limit cooperation between the Philadelphia Police Department and the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency to hold arrested immigrants for possible deportation.
Nutter’s executive order would prevent Philadelphia police from turning over immigrants with no criminal convictions to ICE agents. Similar restrictions are already enforced in “two states, the District of Columbia, at least eight cities and 12 counties,” including New York City,New Orleans, and statewide in California. The policies would mostly still allow law enforcement officials to continue to hold criminal immigrants, who were previously convicted of a first or second degree felonies involving violence. But immigration advocates from the New Sanctuary Movement (NSM) group are hailing Philadelphia’s action as a victory, because the city would additionally require ICE officials to secure judicial warrants to support their detainers.
NSM community organizer Nicole Kligerman said to ThinkProgress Wednesday that the provision is the “most progressive policy in the country” and would “in practice … end all deportation holds” since ICE doesn’t generally seek out judicial warrants to accompany detainer requests.
Clawing back truth and justice, one decision at a time.