State College Borough Council spent more than an hour on Monday night discussing and hearing from residents about a proposed resolution calling for reforms to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations before ultimately postponing action to its next meeting.
Council members were unanimous in their agreement with the message at the heart of Councilman Matt Herndon’s resolution urging federal authorities to make “timely and meaningful reforms” to the agency, but several worried that without substantive action to support it, it could harm the people it intends to help.
Citing the recent fatal shootings of Renée Good and Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis and tactics used against protestors, the proposed resolution calls for several actions. They include prohibiting agents from wearing masks during immigration enforcement, barring the use of violent force and chemical agents “against individuals engaged in peaceful protest, lawful observation or humanitarian assistance,” and “respecting the authority of lawful local and state investigations involving federal agents.”
It also calls for “ensuring that the lawful exercise of Second Amendment rights is not treated as justification for the use of deadly force” and “reaffirming strict adherence to due process protections and judicial warrant requirements for all enforcement actions.”
The resolution states that it is not seeking “to adjudicate the facts of any ongoing investigation,” but rather address concerns about constitutional implications of reported enforcement practices.
It adds that council supports “the lawful and constitutional enforcement of immigration and other federal laws in the interest of public safety, and recognizes that effective law enforcement and the protection of civil liberties are mutually reinforcing obligations.”
Herndon and several other council members preemptively addressed questions about why it would be taking up such a resolution.
“I understand that these incidents happened far outside of our jurisdiction, but when I took my oath of office, I swore to uphold the Constitution of the United States. And the same is true for all of us elected borough council members,” Herndon said. “So I think this resolution is very pertinent to our duties, and I hope it helps to remind elected officials at higher levels of government to uphold their own oaths to the Constitution.”
He also noted that the issue is relevant to State College because “federal immigration enforcement actions have occurred within the broader community.” In August, two dozen men, identified by immigrant rights advocates as construction workers on a Mount Nittany Medical Center project, were taken into custody during traffic stops on Interstate 99 and Route 220 in Centre County in what ICE confirmed was a targeted enforcement operation. It was the largest roundup of immigrant workers in Centre County since the Trump administration took office in 2025 and began a nationwide crackdown.
Council President Evan Myers supported passing the resolution on Monday night.
“It’s only the first step to take in defending the rights of our residents. And I am afraid we’ll have to take many more,” he said, later adding, “This resolution seeks to put the brakes on ICE. It’s not enough, but it’s what we have right now.”
“I have relatives that died in the fires of the Holocaust, and I have relatives that survived that, and they all say to a person, ‘where were people speaking up for us? Why didn’t people say anything about what was going on, or very few people did?’” Myers said. “It’s time for us to speak up. Is this resolution perfect? No. Do we need to take more action, as I said to begin with? Yes.”
Council members Nalini Krishnankutty, Gopal Balachandran and Kevin Kassab all said they feared that the resolution alone could bring attention to the local immigrant community that the borough was not ready to handle.
Krishnankutty said she has been working in the background to support immigrants because of that. She said she has been “horrified” by actions taken by ICE since last spring, but that she was advised by experts on immigration law “to really walk a fine line.
“Because some of us can speak out because we can but also to really be careful about who’s going to be impacted,” she said. “We did not know, especially in early spring, what those actions were going to look like. If council members begin to speak out a certain way, would that mean that ICE is now suddenly going to be in State College? And that impact on a family here is going to be very different than an impact on me.”
Balachandran, an attorney, said he has heard similar views from colleagues who specialize in immigration law and regularly deal with ICE and the Department of Homeland Security.
“Their concern about a resolution like this … is that this would draw unwanted attention without meaningfully helping anyone,” he said. “I definitely agree with the substance of a resolution like this but I am skeptical about it in the worst analysis this could well harm the people who this is supposed to help.
“Keep in mind that according to our federal law, ICE has every right to enforce it, whether it’s in Minneapolis, State College, anywhere in between. They could come into this borough council, they can be out on the street. They actually have a right to do that under our law. Now you might not like the law. We could petition to change the law, but right now that power exists.”
Similarly, Kassab said he did not want to do something well-intentioned with no plan to back it up.
“I find it really difficult with this resolution, when we have nothing in place, once we do it, to protect the immigrant immigrant community,” he said. “So I have big concerns with that.”
While acknowledging the concerns of his fellow council members, John Hayes said that “it’s time we said ‘enough’” and that the resolution is a call for accountability.
“Tonight, I want to say that masked agents of a tyrannical government are not welcome in our community,” Hayes said. “We are not saying don’t enforce the law. Don’t misunderstand me. The laws that we have in this country should be enforced, but I’m asking for equal enforcement of that law, which means we do not have tyrannical federal agents who are unaccountable wearing masks in our community, because that is shameful and that’s un-American.”
Myers, meanwhile, said the State College community is already “under a spotlight” because of the borough’s policy of not voluntarily participating in immigration enforcement. In 2017, council adopted a resolution affirming its position that immigration enforcement is a federal administrative matter and not the responsibility of local authorities.
That resolution was brought to attention again in 2025, when State College appeared on, and was later removed from, a list of “sanctuary jurisdictions” identified by DHS, communities that the Trump administration alleged were violating the law and could risk losing federal funding.
Borough officials have long disputed the characterization of State College as a “sanctuary city.” Now-retired police chief John Gardner explained on multiple occasions in the ensuing years, including in January 2025, that the State College Police Department’s policy, developed with the Penn State Law Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic, is that it does not play an active role in immigration enforcement, but that it will assist other law enforcement agencies with criminal investigations and will comply with court orders.
“To say that no one knows we’re here, we’re hiding under a rock somewhere, isn’t the case,” Myers said on Monday. “We’re one of the few universities that has an immigrant rights center over there, across the street. Not very far from here. We’re already on the radar. All you have to do is Google that. We have a large university with a lot of immigrant students… We’re not hiding from anyone. And the fact is, you can’t hide.”
Community Members Call for Action
A dozen community members spoke during the discussion, with most urging council to take actions that would support the local immigrant community.
Rev. Tracy Sprowls, minister of the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Centre County, spoke as a representative of the Centre County Rapid Response Network, a community defense project created to protect local immigrant communities. She called on council to adopt an ordinance addressing immigration enforcement concerns, and provided a draft based on legislation that has been adopted in other Pennsylvania municipalities and counties.
“We believe in a welcoming policy that strengthens State College Borough, that prohibits collaboration with federal immigration agencies or agencies by the borough government, and will expand protections for immigrants from abusive and discriminatory immigration enforcement programs,” Sprowls said.
The suggested ordinance would ensure all borough employees “abstain from any and all participation in immigration enforcement” absent a binding judicial warrant, and would refuse immigration authorities’ entry into borough-owned property.
It would also refuse to enforce immigration detainers — though such detainers most often applied at the county jail — and abstain from entering into contracts or agreements with federal immigration authorities. And it would prohibit the borough from collecting immigration status to be shared with federal authorities, while further codifying existing policy to not allow discrimination or denial of services based on citizenship or immigration status.
“We understand that this is a risk for certain populations, and we are training people every day to protect the most vulnerable, and we invite anyone here and you all to participate in that,” Sprowls said.
Several members of the public said the borough needs both the resolution to express its principles and an ordinance to take action.
“We need both,” resident Susan Venegoni said. “I would hope that this borough would approach this like an emergency preparedness plan, like disaster planning. Let’s do something before it actually turns into a disaster like it is in Minneapolis. Let’s have a plan in place now.”
Others called on council to hold a work session to develop policy and a budget to support it or informational sessions for residents to learn about their rights and key issues.
“I think we do need to have an information session, and that needs to be done soon,” Terry Watson, chair of Campus & Community in Unity, said. “I think, unfortunately, if we don’t know and we’re ignorant to some of these facts, it’s going to be very problematic.”
Council Postpones Decision
Council members voted 4-2 to postpone consideration of the resolution to their next meeting. Myers and Hayes voted against postponing.
“We have something that we already believe, or some of us believe, starts this process,” Myers said. “We can pass other resolutions or ordinances or instructions. We can do all of that next time. There will always be questions. Perfect is the enemy of the good.”
But Krishnankutty suggested the the measure could carry greater weight if it had the full support of every council member.
“I think it would be more powerful for us to take what council member Herndon has initiated and … take some time get this right,” she said.
Herndon said he is open to feedback and changes to the resolution, and that he wants something that could have unanimous support.
“If there are strong reservations from people, and if they can turn those reservations into actionable amendments to this, and we can get it passed next time as a unanimous front instead of a divided front, I think that could be better,” he said. “So I could actually support this if we can actually head towards a unanimous resolution.”
Council’s next meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Feb. 9.
