Chester County, A 'Sanctuary' County, Could Face Immigration Crackdown

Chester County is one of more than 300 counties and cities nationwide that could lose federal funding as a result of their policies designed to protect illegal immigrants. The federal government will withhold federal funds to those local governments that offer sanctuary to illegal immigrants, the White House announced Wednesday.

Chester County is included on an unofficial list of counties and cities that are described as "sanctuary," although there is no agreement on a universal definition for that term, and different counties could be punished in very different ways.

The Center for Immigration Studies, which labels itself as a non-partisan, non-profit, research organization, has also included Chester County on its sanctuary list.

The Center cites a 2014 report from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement that describes Chester County Prison's policy. They say that the facility will not detain a suspect solely because of an accusation of being here illegally.

Montgomery County Correctional Facility has similar policies in place.

The action against sanctuary municipalities is expected to be one part of a series of executive orders on immigration issues that will be unveiled over a couple of days — the most notable of which will be an order formally moving forward with Trump's campaign promise to build a wall on the Mexican border. It's expected that the executive order Trump signs Wednesday will authorize moving forward with the wall even though Mexico has not agreed to pay for it.

Every city and county described as sanctuary has some kind of policy or law which prevents illegal immigrants from being turned over to federal officials.

While it is the cities — such as Portland, Seattle, New York, San Francisco and Chicago — that tend to get the most notice, it is often counties, which usually run the jails, that have real power to protect immigrants.

Patch has reached out to Chester County Prison for further comment.

Patch staff writer Colin Miner contributed to this report.

Photo via The White House