Luzerne County DA discusses ICE partnership program in annual report

In his annual report on Tuesday, Luzerne County District Attorney Sam Sanguedolce discussed his office’s partnership program with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE.

Known as the 287(g) program, the partnership allows ICE to delegate specified immigration officer duties to state and local law enforcement to handle the arrest and removal of “aliens who undermine the safety of our nation’s communities and the integrity of U.S. immigration laws.”

Last July, Sanguedolce selected participation in a task force option that allows county detectives to “enforce limited immigration authority with ICE oversight during their routine police duties.”

The DA has emphasized that this applies only to county detectives because local law enforcement departments must submit their own requests to participate in the federal partnership. Three municipal police departments in this county have signed up for the ICE partnership to date, according to the federal government: Hazleton, West Hazleton, and Salem Township.

Sanguedolce told County Council on Tuesday that there are “a lot of public misconceptions” about the ICE partnership.

He said it is important for both investigative purposes and liability. Without authority from a partnership agreement, the county could be subject to a civil rights lawsuit for detaining an undocumented immigrant, he said.

That type of litigation occurred in a local municipality when the police department pulled over a vehicle for a broken taillight and another traffic violation, the DA said. The driver had no license, insurance, or vehicle registration, and it was not his car, he said. Police detained the man at the request of ICE, but the municipality had to pay tens of thousands of dollars in a legal settlement because it did not have the authority to act on the ICE request, the DA said.

Sanguedolce reiterated he is focused on cases involving criminals and is not sending detectives “out to harass and harangue people in the public.”

“However, if you are committing crimes in Luzerne County, and you are here illegally, there are consequences to that action,” he said.

To date, the DA’s Office has been involved in seven investigations through the 287(g) partnership, Sanguedolce told council.

Six of those cases involved subjects already with formal deportation orders from federal court, which meant they had completed hearings with legal representation and lost, he said.

“The judge ordered their deportation, and they fled and were caught here in Luzerne County,” he said.

Sanguedolce provided this summary of the six cases:

• Two were convicted felons, including one driving under the influence, involved in a crash in the Back Mountain, he said.

• One was attempting to buy a firearm here.

• One was wanted for crimes committed in Indiana and fled to Pennsylvania.

• One was a confirmed MS-13 gang member who fled from police, struck a vehicle, and then escaped.

• One ended up obtaining a decision lifting the deportation order, allowing that person to remain here.

Sanguedolce said the remaining investigation was significant because it shows his office is also focused on protecting immigrants.

It was part of the Homeland Security Unaccompanied Minor Children Safety Verification Initiative, which checks up on some of the children who are at risk because they were among 479,000 unaccompanied children caught at the border and released to a U.S. sponsor between 2021 and 2024.

In this case, his office located a 16-year-old and her sponsors in this county to determine if she is safe. Spanish-speaking staff from the DA’s Office spoke to the family and verified the girl’s wellness, schooling, and living conditions, he said.

Sanguedolce said the sponsors thanked his office for checking on her, relaying “horror stories” they heard about others.

As a member of the Northeast PA Task Force Against Human Trafficking, the DA said it is “alarming” to learn of crimes against unaccompanied minors who cannot speak English.

“They are being trafficked all over the country, and that is a major concern for most of law enforcement here,” he told council.

Councilwoman Denise Williams said she believes Sanguedolce was “sincere and genuine” when she heard him speaking about the importance of due process for all at a Back Mountain event about human trafficking.

Williams also said she found it “very interesting” that the number of ICE partnership cases is “very small” and that the DA is not “seeking people out” when they have no involvement in alleged criminal activity.

She asked if residents of immigrant communities are less likely to report crimes due to the DA’s participation in the partnership.

Sanguedolce said he does not believe the partnership will “drive a wedge” between his office and the immigrant community. Instead, he said the office received some positive feedback because most residents here, legally or illegally, do not “want the criminal element” in the county.

The DA said he personally reviews every case pursued through the partnership.

“I take it very seriously. It must be a criminal. And again, I’m not diverting our resources toward pursuing solely federal endeavors,” he said.

He added he is not pursuing “people who are otherwise here lawfully, minding their own business, trying to get citizenship.”

Sanguedolce noted he is the grandson of four immigrants, and his maternal grandparents had to spend two years apart because the system would not allow them to enter the country simultaneously.

“That was 1949. There have been problems that have gone unfixed since that time. I’m not looking to exacerbate those problems,” he said.

Sanguedolce advocated legislative action.

“Let me use this pulpit to call upon Congress to do something besides point fingers at each other and pass some laws that allow these people a reasonable way in,” he said.

In other business Tuesday, county Councilwoman Joanna Bryn Smith passed out a copy of a suggested draft ordinance to her colleagues that would address issues related to the immigrant community. The matter was not on the agenda or discussed.