News & Views

WANTED: ICE

 

 

Last month, Immigration and Customs Enforcement billboards popped up around Pennsylvania featuring pictures of immigrants who had recently been arrested and released by local authorities. These billboards were designed like “WANTED” signs and characterized sanctuary cities and their policies as dangerous. However, the truth is that sanctuary cities keep people safe and protect them from a very real threat – unconstitutional detainment by ICE, as illustrated by the case of Ernesto Galarza.

Ernesto Galarza was mistakenly arrested in 2008 for drug charges in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Mr. Galarza, despite having 2 forms of US identification on his person, was suspected of being an undocumented immigrant and was reported to ICE by local officers. ICE issued a detainer for Galarza, who was then held in jail, without access to his family or a lawyer, for 3 days, even though police had agreed that Mr. Galarza was not, in fact, connected to any drugs and under normal circumstances should have been released.

During those three days, his wife and children were frantic because they did not know what happened to him (he was not permitted a phone call). His employer, assuming he had simply failed to show up for work without calling in fired him. Local officers, because of a piece of paper provided by ICE – not a warrant signed by a Judge – held an innocent man for 3 days despite the fact that he was a US citizen. There was no warrant or court order issued for this imprisonment. The only justification was a request made from ICE that was based on a racially charged suspicion. Mr. Galarza sued and the Federal Court, unsurprisingly, held that imprisoning people without a warrant violates their civil rights. Allentown was fined thousands of dollars in civil penalties for failing to uphold the law.

Police departments that imprison people without a warrant are doing so in violation of those persons’ Constitutional rights. This case shows us that no person who resides in the United States, regardless of immigration status, is safe while ICE is allowed to act extra-judicially and while local law enforcement agencies continue to cooperate with unconstitutional requests. Sanctuary cities protect all of us from summarily being imprisoned without probable cause.

Want to learn more about sanctuary cities? Click here

More information on the Galarza case can be found here

TONIGHT (4/20) - Join us ONLINE at the 2023 Golden Door Awards!

Join us ONLINE at 6:45PM TONIGHT, Thursday, April 20th, for HIAS PA's 2023 Golden Door Awards: United for Immigrants!

Happy Passover from HIAS Pennsylvania!HIAS PA is closed in observance of the Jewish holiday of Passover

HIAS Pennsylvania will be closed in observance of the Jewish holiday of Passover from 1PM on Wednesday, April 5th through Friday, April 7th, and on Wednesday, April 12th and Thursday, April 13th.

Join us at the 2023 Golden Door Awards!United for Immigrants

The Golden Door Awards is HIAS Pennsylvania's annual fundraiser. Your generous support helps us serve low-income immigrants from all over the world as they build new lives in our community.

Building closed until further noticeHIAS PA remains open!

HIAS PA’s physical offices at 600 Chestnut Street are CLOSED until further notice due to a burst pipe in the building.

Our organization remains open, and HIAS PA staff continue to work remotely at this time.

Please call (215) 832-0900 with any questions.

Building closed until further noticeHIAS PA remains open!

HIAS PA’s physical offices at 600 Chestnut Street are CLOSED until further notice due to a burst pipe in the building.

Our organization remains open, and HIAS PA staff continue to work remotely at this time.

Please call (215) 832-0900 with any questions.

TONIGHT: Join us at the table!Join us for Thankful Together!

Thankful Together, formerly known as Refugee Thanksgiving, is happening TONIGHT at 6PM!

Register here to join us tonight: https://hiaspa1.wpengine.com/event/thankful-together-2021/

Celebrate our volunteers who make this all possible!Click here at 11:45AM to join our Annual Meeting!

Click here to join our virtual Annual Meeting!

The Annual Meeting starts at noon, but join us at 11:45AM for an informal chat before the event!

POSTPONED! Speed Advocacy: Afghanistan

Today's Speed Advocacy: Afghanistan Facebook Live event has been postponed due to a worldwide Facebook outage. We will update you as soon as possible about rescheduling the event.