Press Conference & Action to Stop 287(g) in Bucks County
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Updated: 1 day ago
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Press Release
For Immediate Release
Immigrant Rights Leaders Hold Press Conference Highlighting Consequences of Bucks County Sheriff’s 287(g) Agreement
(Doylestown, PA, May 7) — Leaders from Immigrant Rights Action, NAACP Bucks County, Make the Road PA, CASA, and the ACLU held a joint press conference to address the human and financial cost of Bucks County Sheriff’s pending 287(g) agreement at the Bucks County Justice Center in Doylestown this morning. About 150 members of the Bucks County community attended.
“We have worked long and hard to ensure that our communities have a wonderful relationship with our law enforcement through community policing and community building,” said Heidi Roux, Executive Director of Immigrant Rights Action. “This will completely burn that bridge. We support the sheriff's effort to catch more criminals, and we believe that the only way to do that is if everyone that lives in Bucks County is comfortable reporting crimes.
The 287(g) program has a history of enabling racial profiling and discriminatory policing.
“This program opens the door of racial profiling and unjust detentions and the criminalization of immigrant families who already live in fear,” said Adrienne King, President of NAACP Bucks County. “It will tear communities apart, discourage victims and witnesses from cooperating with law enforcement, and ultimately make Bucks County less safe for everyone. Even though white people make up the vast majority of the population here, we already face systematic disparities in policing. The is why we say without hesitation: 287 G has no place in Bucks County.
“As Dr Martin Luther King once said, injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. The injustice in this program is a threat to every resident in this county. Immigrant or native born, documented or undocumented, black, brown, or white. We are calling on the sheriff to immediately rescind this agreement. If he will not, we urge the county commissioners, the state legislators, and the people of Bucks County to rise up and hold him accountable.”
Solomon F. Worlds of the Pennsylvania ACLU spoke about the importance of community trust as well as the legal and financial ramifications of the 287(g) program. “Community trust is currency to police officers. It's something I've heard time and time again. Rather than making communities safer, [287(g)] silences people who are already marginalized in our communities. It makes folks feel afraid to come forward when they are victims or survivors of crime. On top of the lost trust, the lost lawsuits, the lost tax revenue, the lost time, and the gained responsibility and legal liability, these agreements can even result in the loss of safety for officers.
Immediately following the press conference, concerned residents attended the Bucks County Commissioners’ meeting to ask questions about how the Sheriff’s plan could affect the county budget and taxpayers.
“287(g) has exposed other municipalities to legal liability that cost them millions of dollars in lawsuits,” said Laura Rose, a group leader of Indivisible Bucks County. “It has bloated police budgets overtime budgets. It has also led to economic boycotts. The Sheriff needs to focus on his current duties instead of incurring additional costs on the backs of taxpayers.”
Contact: Heidi Roux, Executive Director, Immigrant Rights Action 267-910-9030 hroux@immigrantrightsaction.org
Detailed information on race and policing in Bucks County is available at https://www.naacpbucks.org/policing
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