(File Photo of the Beaver County Courthouse)
Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News
(Beaver, PA) The main topic that was discussed at the Beaver County Commissioners’ work session today at 10 a.m. at the Beaver County Courthouse in Beaver was the “287 G” agreement recently signed by the office of Beaver County Sheriff Tony Guy. Sheriff Guy stated: “Section 287 G authorizes state and local law enforcement to perform certain federal functions, immigration functions,” and went on to say: “it allows for access to VHS databases to verify immigration information. It allows for the questioning of individuals to determine immigration status, and based on that status, it allows for a detainer to be placed on individuals and hold them for up to 48 hours to allow for ICE to take custody. One reason that the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office believes in this plan is to have a resource that is centralized for law enforcement in Beaver County. However, the main reason that this agreement was signed was because of the horrendous crimes that were committed in Pennsylvania, but more importantly, in Beaver County. Sheriff Guy went over a list of at least eleven specific Beaver County crimes that dealt with items including sexual assault, cases of child abuse and human trafficking. Some of these crimes were committed by illegal immigrants, like the actor who struck and killed a man with a vehicle in Coraopolis before getting taken into custody at his Ambridge residence. One of the incidents also mentioned was that a legal immigrant was being threatened to join a Beaver County Haitian gang. All of the crimes that were mentioned are preventable. There was plenty of audience participation and questions about how the “287 G” agreement will be employed, with some participants making comments about how some immigrants have impacted their communities, while others showed comments of praise and respect for the plan, while still others commented that the actual criminals are the people that should get caught. One of the people that spoke in the audience participation section of the work session was Isaac Elias of Economy Borough, who was allegedly arrested in the July 31st, 2025 incident in Ambridge involving ICE. One of the questions that Elias asked to Sheriff Guy was about the model of policing that he describes to as a sheriff. Despite that question, Elias was one of the people who wants to treat the immigrants that come into his community where his shop is in Ambridge with respect and dignity. Beaver County Commissioner Chairman Dan Camp summed the “287 G” agreement up to those at the work session by speaking for the Beaver County Sheriff’s Office noting that Sheriff Guy is going to “extend our database at the Beaver County Jail and West Aliquippa, so that when individuals come into our jail, we can found out if they are here legally or illegally.”
