Montour County prepares to collaborate with ICE

Danville, Pa. — The Montour County Sheriff’s Office will now work alongside ICE agents — if they visit Montour County.

During an interview with Sheriff William C. McKenna on June 12, he learned for the first time his agency had been approved to assist Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers.

“Excellent. I have not checked my email yet today, so that could be the case,” he said about the agreement's approval.

McKenna doesn’t expect a shakeup in his office’s dealings.

“I honestly don't anticipate a whole lot of change of anything. As of now, we have had virtually zero contact with ICE on our end — the sheriff's office end — in the 10 years I've been here.”

McKenna explained he and his deputies would never carry out ICE activities without their supervision. If ICE does not come to Montour County to carry out their business, the sheriff’s office would not be authorized to question, detain, or arrest people they suspect have violated immigration laws.

The sheriff said the Montour County Jail has “encountered a couple incidents” where inmates were brought in that had ICE detainers, or immigration holds, but emphasized all matters regarding the detainers had to first be signed off by a member of the federal judiciary. 

“But again, we haven't dealt with that so much on our end. It's more of, if this is gonna be an issue down the road, it's something I want to know what the process is. We don't deal with a whole lot, so we have no idea of what goes on really with this,” he added.

Montour County applied to collaborate with ICE using the Task Force Model on May 22. Their application was approved on June 12. That day, 45 other law enforcement agencies (LEAs) across the country had their memorandums of agreement (MOAs) to support ICE were approved as well. 

McKenna is focused on what his office has to gain from the training they'll soon receive, saying, “That’s part of the reason for doing this: to find out, what is, what isn’t? What are the cases in which they're going to be here? It’s more of an information thing on my end to try to figure out what they are offering. What is this training gonna detail, how well are they going to prepare somebody?”

The Task Force Model serves as a “force multiplier for law enforcement agencies to enforce limited immigration authority with ICE oversight during their routine police duties,” according to ICE’s website page describing how LEAs can apply with ICE 287(g) Program.

ICE task force training for members of the sheriff’s office, which ICE will pay for, is expected to begin soon now that the partnership has been formed, but an exact date has yet to be set. 

The 'sanctuary county' mixup

There are two potential benefits of pursuing the Task Force Model, McKenna said. He and his office will become more educated on immigration laws as they "have not encountered much" regarding such procedures. They'll also be able to quash misconceptions of Montour County being a "sanctuary county" for immigrants.

"We are a Sanctuary County for the Bill of Rights," McKenna said. 

In February 2021, Montour County commissioners passed a resolution enshrining their dedication to ensuring local law enforcement upholds the Bill of Rights. A few weeks later, Clarion County passed a similar resolution, declaring themselves a "Second Amendment Sanctuary County."

Recently, their choice of words in those resolutions caused trouble for those two counties. 

Officials from Montour and Clarion counties told The Inquirer that on May 30, they were informed the Department of Homeland Security had flagged their governments for being noncompliant with federal immigration laws. Thus, some of their federal funding was put at risk. 

This wasn't Montour County's first run-in with being labeled a sanctuary county. 

"We had some issues at our jail, apparently years ago, where ICE put us as a sanctuary county because [local law enforcement] refused to take somebody on just an [ICE] agent's signature," McKenna explained. 

By adopting the Task Force Model, McKenna hopes to signal to the federal government, and local residents, that Montour County's LEAs are more than willing to comply with federal immigration laws. So willing, in fact, that they want to work right alongside federal agents and learn as much as they can about immigration laws. 

"[Immigration] is just something I'd like to know how to handle before it becomes a problem. By joining the program, we are then able to access training that will tell us what can and cannot happen with this stuff. I'd like to know what the rules, laws, and practices are for dealing with this," McKenna concluded.

Other ways ICE collaborates with local police

Of the three models an LEA can choose from to support ICE, the Task Force Model is the most active. LEAs may also request to support ICE efforts using the Warrant Service Officer Model and the Jail Enforcement Model. 

The Jail Enforcement Model is “designed to identify and process removable aliens — with criminal or pending criminal charges — who are arrested by state or local law enforcement agencies,” according to the 287(g) Program information page.

Bradford County Sheriff Clinton J. “CJ” Walters applied for and obtained authorization to collaborate with ICE using the Warrant Service Officer model in late March. 

On March 21, Walters signed a request that Bradford County officers be authorized to serve ICE warrants to inmates in the county’s jails and prisons. On March 26, Acting Director of ICE Todd M. Lyons approved the sheriff's request.

No representative of the Bradford County Sheriff's Office returned a comment regarding their collaboration with ICE.