State College police weren’t involved in ICE operation that led to 1 arrest, borough says
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- State College Borough issued a statement denying police involvement in the ICE operation.
- The arrest occurred before a proposed No ICE ordinance on the July 6 council agenda.
- The borough says immigration is largely civil and police are not notified of ICE activity.
State College borough denied police involvement in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation Saturday that led to one person being taken into custody.
Part of the operation was filmed and posted to social media, where local groups Centre County Rapid Response Network, Student Committee for Defense and Solidarity (SCDS) and the People’s Defense Front alleged that, after the operation at a construction site near Allen Street and Easterly Parkway, ICE agents “re-grouped at State College Police Department for protection and assistance.” The borough said in a statement Monday that it was aware of the situation but that its police department was not involved.
“Following the arrest, ICE agents stopped in the Municipal Building’s parking lot. The Borough of State College, which includes the State College Police Department, was not involved in the operation,” the statement read.
The latest ICE activity and arrest in State College comes before Borough Council is set to discuss an ICE ordinance at its July 6 meeting that local advocacy groups have pushed for. While borough officials have reiterated that State College police does not assist ICE, community members have demanded an ordinance that prohibits local collaboration of any kind with ICE and provides other protections to local immigrants.
The Centre Daily Times emailed several questions last week about specifics on State College Police Department’s policies relating to ICE, most of which were unanswered. Instead, the borough pointed to resources for immigrants posted to its website, noting that current policy reads, in part, “By and large, immigration is a civil matter, not a criminal one.”
“The State College Police Department and the Borough are not notified before or during civil immigration operations. A judicial warrant is required by ICE for requests to local law enforcement agencies for information that is not publicly available — which is consistent with Borough policy,” the borough wrote in the statement.
ICE did not respond to an inquiry about Saturday’s operation in State College, including information about the person who was taken into custody.
Advocacy groups including SCDS and the People’s Defense Front plan a protest before the July 6 council meeting, where council members are set to discuss the ordinance. An ordinance calling for ICE reforms was tabled earlier this year, with some council members voicing concern that it could end up having negative impacts on the local immigrant community.
