City of Philadelphia - File #: 110536

• File #: 110536
• Version: 0
• Type: Resolution
• Status: ADOPTED
• File created: 6/23/2011
• In control: CITY COUNCIL
• Final action: 6/23/2011
• Title: Condemning the City of Philadelphia's agreement with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to allow immediate access to arrest information, and urging the City to discontinue that agreement with ICE when it expires August 31, 2011 as well as any other involvement in the Secure Communities program or additional data-sharing agreements with ICE.
• Sponsors: Councilmember Kenney, Councilmember Sanchez, Councilmember Green, Councilmember Greenlee, Councilmember Tasco, Councilmember Goode, Councilmember Miller, Councilmember Blackwell, Councilmember Clarke, Councilmember DiCicco, Councilmember Reynolds Brown

Date	Ver.	Action By	Action	Result	Tally
6/23/2011	0	CITY COUNCIL	Introduced and Ordered Placed on This Week's Final Passage Calendar - Rules Suspended	Pass
6/23/2011	0	CITY COUNCIL	ADOPTED

Title
Condemning the City of Philadelphia's agreement with the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to allow immediate access to arrest information, and urging the City to discontinue that agreement with ICE when it expires August 31, 2011 as well as any other involvement in the Secure Communities program or additional data-sharing agreements with ICE.

Body
WHEREAS, Representatives from the Philadelphia Police Department, District Attorney's Office, and the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania decide whether the City of Philadelphia will renew an agreement with US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) pursuant to the federal Secure Communities program that allows ICE immediate access to the City's arrest information through the Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System (PARS) database; and

WHEREAS, A Police Department directive has been in force since 2001 which recognizes the crucial importance of protecting the confidentiality of immigration status in order for immigrants to trust and work with local law enforcement officers; and

WHEREAS, An executive order signed by Mayor Michael Nutter in November 2009 prohibits all City employees from asking about immigration status, unless specifically required by law, or to determine program eligibility. The order observes that the City's "ability to obtain pertinent information, which may be essential to the performance of government functions, is sometimes made more difficult or even impossible if some expectation of confidentiality is not preserved," and seeks to further the goal that "all individuals should know that they may seek and obtain the assistance of City departments and agencies regardless of their personal status, without negative consequences to their personal lives"; and

WHEREAS, The "Secure Communities" program piloted in 2008 is designed to enforce federal civil immigration laws and facilitate deportations by increasing collaboration between ICE and state and loca...