The name 287(g) may sound like some obscure bureaucratic policy, but don’t be fooled. It’s ICE in our backyard. It’s Trump’s immigration policies masquerading as local law enforcement. It’s racial profiling during traffic stops, municipal budgets crushed under the weight of civil rights lawsuits, and our friends and neighbors living in constant fear of being snatched off the streets and vanishing forever.
It’s also been Fred Harran’s pet project since he was Bensalem’s Director of Public Safety in 2018.
Now as Bucks County Sheriff, Harran is at it again. This time, he wants to allow his deputies to function as immigration agents in every part of the county. Under the task force model of 287(g) that he’s applied for, his law enforcement officers would have sweeping power to enforce immigration laws while conducting their routine duties.
His deputies would essentially be roving Bucks County ICE agents.
- During routine traffic stops they could inquire about one’s immigration status.
- They could stop and question anyone in public about their immigration status and demand their documentation.
- They would extend the reach of Trump’s mass deportation machine by doing ICE’s work at county taxpayer expense.
In 2018, Harran was forced to abandon 287(g) in Bensalem after community leaders and hundreds of ordinary citizens rose up in outrage and called out the program’s human and financial costs. So why would Harran think we’d support it now?
He’s either a true believer in Trump’s mass deportation policies or a terribly slow learner.
Harran applied for 287(g) under the cover of darkness and without the input of the residents he serves. Then when the story broke in The Bucks County Beacon, Harran shifted into damage control mode. He’s now trying to reassure us that he’s only concerned with improving public safety and saving taxpayer money, that he will only target criminals, and that there’s no way he or his officers would ever overstep their bounds.
READ: ICE Deports Immigrant Mother of an Infant and 3 Children Who Are US Citizens
But the history of 287(g) in other municipalities makes these reassurances sound naïve. They’d be laughable, even, if the consequences of 287(g) weren’t so cruel and profound.
- In counties where 287(g) has been implemented, fear has spread, leading victims and witnesses of crimes—including domestic violence and sexual assault—to remain silent.
- Jurisdictions that joined the program have faced civil rights complaints, lawsuits, and multimillion-dollar settlements, which fell to taxpayers.
- 287(g) has a history of enabling racial profiling and discriminatory policing. In Arizona, Georgia, and North Carolina, courts have found that the program led to systemic abuses, with people being arrested for minor infractions.
- In Maricopa County, Arizona, Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s participation in 287(g) led to more than $70 million in legal damages and widespread boycotts that hurt the local economy.
Harran’s promises also ring hollow considering the Trump administration’s immigration policies, which he is on record as supporting. The federal government’s recent abuses are nothing short of monstrous. ICE is snatching people off the streets and shipping them to detention centers without due process, including graduate student Rumeysa Ozturk, green card holder Mahmoud Khalil, and Juan Carlos Lopez Gomez, a U.S. citizen arrested despite having proper documentation. The case of Kilmar Ábrego García, unlawfully deported to a Salvadoran prison and yet to be returned despite a unanimous Supreme Court order, is especially grotesque.
Why Sheriff Harran would choose this time in history to turn his deputies into de facto ICE agents is anyone’s guess, because right now we need public safety that builds trust, not fear. We need our law enforcement officers to protect and serve, not double as deportation cowboys. We need our Sheriff to perform the duties of his office, not become the next Joe Arpaio.
READ: Central Bucks Community Grapples with the Specter of ICE Raids at Local Schools
Harran didn’t ask us if we wanted his immigration force trolling the streets of Quakertown and Levittown, Doylestown and Bristol. But he’s hearing from us now.
It’s time to tell Sheriff Harran that we will not let Bucks County become a playground for ICE. We will not be silent as our neighbors are targeted, trust in law enforcement is shattered, and fear is so palpable that folks with brown skin or an accent are afraid to leave their homes.
We can and will stop Sheriff Harran permanently by voting him out in November. In the meantime, we must not let 287(g) take root in Bucks County. We’ve stopped it before. We will stop it again. This time we’ll need to be louder, stronger, and more united than ever.
TAKE ACTION: Sign this petition urging Sheriff Harran to reconsider 287(g) and hold a community forum. Call the Bucks County Sheriff’s Office at 215-348-6124 to voice your concern and ask him to rescind the application for ICE’s 287g program. Email the Sheriff at Faharran(at)buckscounty.org
