State College Borough Council will consider an ordinance aimed at protecting immigrant community members, following months demands from protesters and speakers at public meetings calling for a formal prohibition on cooperation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Council President Evan Myers said on Monday the proposed ordinance, the specifics of which have not yet been outlined, will be on an agenda by July 6.
“I and this council have said over and over again that we stand squarely on the side of immigrants and against the thuggish actions of ICE,” Myers said.
A resolution introduced in February calling for “timely and meaningful reform” of ICE was tabled after several council members expressed concerns that it could bring unwanted attention and harm to the people it meant to support, particularly without substantive action to support it.
“After the last resolution failed, I asked the borough manager to focus on what kind of ordinance might have the force of law that we could pass that would work here in Pennsylvania, and that process is almost complete,” Myers said, adding that a proposal would be forthcoming after the borough has “gathered all the information that will allow us to pass an enforceable law.”
Addressing why council had decided to continue to pursue the matter, Myers noted the ongoing input from residents. He also pointed to a report in the Washington Post on Monday that detailed how guards at ICE detention centers have used chemical agents and physical tactics against detainees, including those who have sought adequate water, food and medical care.
Anti-ICE protesters and local immigrant rights advocates have called for the borough to pass a legally-binding policy barring voluntary cooperation with ICE. On April 20, protesters marched to the State College Municipal Building and several entered a council meeting, shouting for about two minutes and calling specific council members and other leaders, “cowards,” “sellouts” and “liars.”
Organizers of that and other protests have alleged that a witness reported State College police assisted ICE with an arrest in March near the intersection of East College Avenue and Houserville Road in College Township. Borough police denied any involvement, and officials have said on numerous occasions that immigration laws are a matter of federal enforcement in which the State College department does not participate.
The April 20 protesters also posted on doors and vehicles around the building flyers with the names and faces of several borough leaders with “aids and abets ICE terror” underneath them.
Myers, who was among those pictured, said a “false narrative of who we are and what we stand for… is doing the work of the thugs that we oppose.”
Mayor Ezra Nanes was also among those pictured and said it “is painful to see oneself publicly portrayed in a way that does not reflect the truth of one’s words, actions, values or record.”
“False claims about public officials are not harmless,” Nanes said. “They can cause injury far beyond what is easily seen in the context of a public meeting. They can deepen division in the community they are trying to serve and make it harder to do the urgent, careful and necessary work that is before us.”
Nanes, who cannot vote on matters before council, said he agrees with “the actions of this council to protect the dignity, the safety and the rights of every person in our community, including and especially our immigrant neighbors.”
“My commitment remains unchanged,” he said. “I stand with immigrants, with those who are vulnerable, and with all who seek a community rooted in dignity, in safety, in justice for all and in belonging, and I will continue to support lawful, meaningful action that protects our residents and reflects the best of who we are in State College.”
Rev. Tracy Sprowls minister at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Centre County and a member of the immigrant rights group Centre County Rapid Response Network, has spoken at multiple council meetings to call for an ordinance that formally limits cooperation with ICE and the use of borough resources by the agency.
Speaking during public comment on Monday, she thanked the council for taking up the ordinance.
“I want to just express my appreciation for listening to us continuously over the last few months about our concern for the immigrant population and for the ordinance that we would like passed,” Sprowls said.
Several speakers during public comment noted that Pennsylvania municipalities like Pittsburgh, Reading, Philadelphia and Carlisle have passed immigrant-protection measures.
State College resident Nicholas Dudek said he appreciates the steps the borough has already taken to limit cooperation with ICE, and that an ordinance is necessary to protect immigrant community members.
“In a moment like this, we can’t turn a blind eye and just keep our heads down,” Dudek said. “Whether it’s now or whether it’s later, sooner or later, it will be our turn to be targeted. Regardless of whether we stand up or keep our heads down, the only way to keep safe is to stand up against the threats to our community… Keeping our heads down just makes it easier for the most vulnerable among us to be targeted. And it leaves them behind, and it makes it easier in turn for us to be targeted.”
