(NewsNation) — Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Sheriff Danny Ceisler tells NewsNation that severing his county’s partnership with ICE helps their relationship with the local immigrant community.
Ceisler joined “On Balance” following the decision, arguing the county’s streets may be safer as a result.
“It was something called a 287(g) partnership, which is a section of the Immigration and Naturalization Act which allows local law enforcement agencies to voluntarily perform immigration enforcement on behalf of ICE,” Ceisler said.
“When you mix local law enforcement with ICE, that torches the relationship between immigrant communities, who we rely on to call 911, to report crime, to come into the courthouse and testify,” he said.
“Since my predecessor announced this partnership, we saw a drop in 911 calls, and in people from immigrant communities reaching out to the police, and that makes everybody less safe.”
DHS has put out a list of those who were arrested in Bucks County, with individuals illegally in the United States having been convicted of assault, exploitation of a minor, burglary, rape, strong-arm sex and forgery, among other crimes.
Ceisler said those individuals were detained and deported “as they should be,” adding his county has “maintained a relationship with ICE when it comes to people who are actually in our county jail.”
Ceisler also suggested he wanted to avoid collateral arrests, where persons illegally in the United States are arrested in the process of ICE seeking out an individual with a criminal conviction unrelated to their entry into the country.
“Look, most of the people who are here in the country illegally are following the rules. Aside from how they entered the country or their current immigration status, they are following the rules. Most of them are paying taxes,” he said.
