State police adopt policy on dealing with foreign nationals
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania state police have adopted a new policy to govern troopers’ interaction with foreign nationals, after criticism the officers were acting as an informal arm of immigration enforcement.
The new procedures imposed last week say officers may not “summarily” question passengers in a vehicle stopped for suspicion of violating traffic rules about their immigration status. They also may not detain people just for the purpose of questioning them about their own immigration status or anyone else’s.
The policy had been in the works for nearly two years. It was adopted after a story last year by ProPublica and The Philadelphia Inquirer raised questions about racial profiling and unlawful arrests.
State police spokesman Ryan Tarkowski said Tuesday that troopers will retain “all available tools to positively identify” citizens of other countries when stopped in their vehicle, arrested or lawfully detained. There also will be more robust tracking of interactions with foreign citizens and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“If a foreign national is taken into custody for a criminal warrant, traffic warrant or criminal immigration warrant, ICE will be notified of the detention facility where the individual is being housed. The regulation goes on to detail the rights of detained foreign nationals to notify their government of their detention,” Tarkowski said.
Troopers may not attempt to detain or arrest a foreign national based only on their immigration status. They may contact ICE after an interaction with a foreign national is complete.
“Administrative immigration warrants are civil in nature; therefore, the suspicion, knowledge or evidence of an administrative immigration warrant does not, in and of itself, constitute responsible suspicion of criminal activity,” the new policy tells troopers.
Sundrop Carter, head of the Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition, told ProPublica the policy should have gone further and restricted troopers’ interaction with ICE.
“That is the exact loophole we want closed,” Carter said. “The policy is better than nothing, which is what they had before. But it falls very short of what we were thinking.”
ProPublica and The Philadelphia Inquirer reported last year that U.S.-born Latinos said they had been asked if they were in the country illegally during traffic stops, and a trooper held a group for hours until immigration officials arrived to look into passengers in a vehicle who did not have documentation.