Mayor Expected to Sign Order Curtailing Police-ICE Collaboration

Mayor Nutter is expected to sign an executive order tomorrow that will significantly limit collaboration between Philadelphia police and federal immigration authorities.

The order is expected to preclude police from honoring detainer requests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement except in cases where a person is convicted of a first- or second-degree felony involving violence, and only when ICE secures a warrant to support the detainer.

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ICE detainers or “holds” are requests by federal immigration authorities for police to hold a person who was detained for an alleged crime for up to an additional 48 hours. That would allow ICE to take the person–if suspected of being an undocumented immigrant or a noncitizen–into their custody for possible deportation.

Immigrant-rights advocates, who have worked for years to end ICE holds, hailed the expected signing as a victory. “Historic Signing Ceremony to End ICE Holds!” exclaimed a headline yesterday in an email by the New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia announcing tomorrow’s signing event.

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