Senate Sanctuary City Bill Could Include Clarion County

Ron Wilshire

Ron Wilshire

Published February 27, 2017 5:45 am
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CLARION, Pa. (EYT) — It all comes down to what definition of  “sanctuary” is used for county jails.  

(Pictured above: Jeff Hornberger, Clarion County Corrections Warden, and Clarion County Commissioner Wayne Brosius)

Clarion County has been advised that they are not considered a sanctuary county by Federal Department of Homeland Security standards that would be used to block federal funds to Clarion County, but a new bill passed by the Pennsylvania State Senate has a slightly different definition of sanctuary status.

According to PennsylvaniaWatchDog.org, the Pennsylvania Senate passed a bill on February 7 that would make sanctuary locations ineligible for a state law enforcement grant program and bar them from profiting from the sale of state surplus property.

The bill would also make “municipalities of refuge” liable for damages done to a person or property if the perpetrator is an illegal immigrant who was released despite a detainer request.

The state bill defines a sanctuary as “a municipality that permits, requires, or requests the release” of someone already in custody for whom immigration officers have a “civil immigration detainer request.”

“We are not a sanctuary county,” said Clarion County Commissioner Wayne Brosius.  

“We are not on the Department of Homeland Security list of cities that are sanctuaries.  Those are cities and municipalities that specifically passed ordinances designating themselves as sanctuaries to illegal aliens. Clarion County has no such ordinance or resolution naming us as a sanctuary for illegal aliens.”

Brosious requested an opinion for the office of U.S. Congressman GT Thompson, and he agreed that Clarion is not on the federal list of sanctuary cities or counties.

Some of the misunderstanding may have resulted from a Clarion County Prison Policy that states it will not hold immigration detainees based only on the ICE detainers.  Inmates must have a legal and authorized paperwork from a judge committing and charging them.

“We didn’t want to get into the legal hassle of holding prisoners for ICE because they suspect somebody of being an illegal immigrant,” said Brosius. “ICE could say ‘hold these seven prisoners’ for who knows how many days, taking up our prison space. The one thing is — we don’t have space over there. and it would be a cost to our taxpayers to do that.”

Senate spokeswoman Jennifer Kocher said that the different types of detainer requests are one cause of the confusion. For example, an I-247 request seeks detention of an illegal immigrant by local law enforcement for up to 48 hours. However, if the prisoner is taken to a county jail by a Border Patrol agent, they can be held indefinitely.

Some sources have described the detainer as a request, and Brosious and Jeff Hornberger, Clarion County Corrections Warden, said that is why Clarion County elected a few years ago to only accept prisoners if they receive an official judicial order.

An in-depth audio interview with Brosious and Hornberger was conducted with Ron Wilshire last week on Clarion Connection. Click on the link below to hear an exploration of the Clarion County Prison and its programs, facilities, and growing population.  

The prison also represents over $2 million in the county budget, with taxpayer dollars funding the frugal operation.

With an expanding population, Brosious admitted the county would eventually have to consider expansion.

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