Luzerne County Council approval not needed for DA partnership with ICE, say DA and chief solicitor

Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce and county Chief Solicitor Harry W. Skene said county council approval was not necessary for a new DA’s Office agreement to participate in a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) partnership program.

The absence of council approval came up because several citizens urged council during its Tuesday meeting to reject county involvement in the partnership.

Skene said the authority to determine participation rests with the DA as the elected official overseeing that office.

“He didn’t have to get our approval. That’s him running his office,” Skene said. “You have certain rights as an elected official that you can’t take away from them.”

Sanguedolce said he agrees with Skene’s assessment.

The partnership Sanguedolce accepted falls under the Immigration and Nationality Act 287(g) program. It allows ICE to delegate specified immigration officer duties to state and local law enforcement to handle the arrest and removal of “aliens who undermine the safety of our nation’s communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws.”

Sanguedolce selected participation in a task force option that allows county detectives to “enforce limited immigration authority with ICE oversight during their routine police duties.”

The DA emphasized this applies only to county detectives because local law enforcement departments would have to submit their own requests to participate in this federal partnership.

As of Wednesday, ICE had signed more than 800 memorandums of agreement with partnering law enforcement entities in 40 states as part of the 287(g) program, its website said.

Sanguedolce’s office is the first participating DA’s Office in Pennsylvania because the other partnering entities are county sheriff’s offices and municipal constables and police departments, the ICE site listing says.

An invitation to participate came up when Sanguedolce was making arrangements with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to be part of a different program that will allow the county to trace the out-of-country origins of fentanyl and other drugs killing residents here, the DA said.

Sanguedolce said the 287(g) program was of interest to him because his office has encountered “violent drug traffickers and rapists” who had no authority to be in this country. The ability to detain such suspects due to their immigration status will ensure they don’t flee before all criminal charges are adjudicated, he said.

The DA said blanket statements that ICE “as a whole is universally violating due process” are “absurd” and not in line with the actions of federal agents he has observed.

Sanguedolce said he spent his entire career as a prosecutor guaranteeing the accused have due process.

“I’m not going to abdicate that responsibility now simply because we partnered with the federal government,” he said. “If I saw due process rights violated, I would bring it to the public’s attention and to any necessary court or tribunal to make sure it was corrected.”

The DA also said he will be focused on cases involving violent criminals and won’t be sending county detectives “to sweep a warehouse to see if there are illegal residents.”

During Tuesday’s public comment, Wilkes-Barre resident Andrea Glod cited the constitutional right to due process and voiced concerns about ICE, arguing that council should stop the DA partnership with the federal agency.

“For this council to be considering aiding and abetting criminal activity being perpetrated by ICE agents in the name of justice and/or respect for the rule of law is an affront to all citizens,” Glod said.

Duryea resident Laura Pinero, of the Northeast Pennsylvania Democratic Socialists, told council she believes the 287(g) program puts local law enforcement “into roles that alienate them from communities they are supposed to serve.” She urged council to encourage the DA to “pursue alternative strategies that prioritize due process, community safety and respect for human lives.”

”I’m part of a bigger coalition that is going to push back on this,” Pinero said.