City Of Philadelphis And ICE Reach Arrest Records Deal

From foxphilly.com and FAIR:

Philly, ICE Reach Arrest Records Deal


Feds Can See Arrestees, Not Victims Or Witnesses

PHILADELPHIA - The city of Philadelphia has reached an agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on access to the Preliminary Arraignment Reporting System, or "PARS."



Mayor Michael Nutter held a news conference Friday morning announce that the system has been reformed and the arrangement has been extended for at least one more year.







From now on, the feds will only get to see the names of the people who were arrested – not the victims or the witnesses.



You may remember Nutter wanted to end the agreement. He was concerned that the records being opened up to ICE included information about victims and other people who were calling in.



The mayor and members of the immigrant community were concerned that sharing information can make witnesses afraid to testify for fear that they may be deported.



"The new agreement will not provide Immigration and Customs Enforcement with access to information regarding witnesses or victims," Nutter said. "... My concerns have been addressed. My conditions have been met. So the city of Philadelphia will no longer provide victim or witness information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement."



District Attorney Seth Williams, who was not in favor of ending the agreement, told the media, "It's very important for us to have PARS, very important for us to share that information with other law enforcement organizations ... And as a district attorney, I want to ensure that we can reduce crime, I want to ensure that we can work with communities, that we won't have a chilling effect on victims and witnesses and their communities."



Members of the immigration community said it's a good first step, but they would like much deeper reform of immigration reform before they're completely satisfied.