On Jan. 26, the Schuylkill County Sheriff’s Office signed on to assist the federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in apprehending undocumented immigrants.

Now, county officials are on a mission to find the most affordable liability insurance in case someone sues the department and/or the county.

Schuylkill commissioners Chairman Larry L. Padora Jr. on Wednesday rebuked an agency that provides insurance for counties after it refused to offer liability protection to departments that agree to help Immigration Customs Enforcement.

“When we found out the sheriff’s office entered into the 287(g) (agreement with ICE), we called PCoRP (Pennsylvania Counties Risk Pool) and asked if we had coverage. We got an email from them saying ‘yes’ we have coverage,” Padora said. “They decided arbitrarily right before our renewal that they weren’t going to cover this anymore, and left the county scrambling.

“Then PCoRP came to us and said, ‘Well, we’ve been discussing this since December. They never gave us any notification at all during that time frame that they were going to exclude coverage for the 287(g).

“Originally, they told us we had coverage for it. Then, all of a sudden, they changed it. ….”

Padora said that PCoRP is the “only actuary in the entire country that denies this coverage.”

PCoRP did not respond to email messages asking for comment.

A person who answered the telephone there Wednesday said “I cannot help you” and hung up.

Agreement

Sheriff Shawn Butler signed the agreement with ICE in January. The agreement includes training and education. ICE will reimburse the department for any expenses incurred.

Sheriff’s deputies would help ICE only in the course of their normal daily activities.

Padora said at a public meeting last week said one option is to buy an additional policy.

“I did look into this and that would cost us about $20,000 a year,” he said.

Butler said the cost would be reimbursed by the federal government.

On Friday, county Administrator Gary Bender said the conference call meeting did not generate anything substantial.

“There was no resolution resulting from the telephone meeting, “ he said. “The end result was more meetings.”

CCAP Managing Director of Insurance Programs Desiree Nguyen did not immediately respond to an inquiry Thursday.

The sheriff’s office signed a memorandum of understanding with ICE on Jan. 26, according to a listing on the federal agency’s website.

The agreement is referred to as a 287(g) program. It provides training to local law enforcement officers to teach them how to identify undocumented immigrants who are suspected of illegal activity.

The memorandum outlines training, liability and responsibilities, what ICE will provide, for example, internet technology infrastructure, civil rights standards and complaint procedures.

The question of liability insurance surfaced when Pottsville resident Lisa Von Ahn spoke at the May 13 public commissioners’ meeting.

She questioned the commissioners on what they were doing to protect the county from any lawsuits that might arise as a result of actions taken by the sheriff’s deputies.

Detention plans

A proposed detention center, near the small town of Tremont, has residents worried that it will drain their already modest water supply and overburden their struggling sewer system.

The center, in a converted former warehouse, would hold 7,500 people and have 2,500 staff. It was originally slated to open in next month.

The state Department of Environmental Protection in March barred the center from opening until it proves it would comply with state and federal environmental laws.

Residents have spoken out against the center since commissioners confirmed the plans in February.

Padora has described his efforts to talk with state and federal officials to make sure the county, municipalities and local school district receive payments in lieu of taxes, that the water and sewer issues are resolved, and that local emergency responders are given the information they need to safely handle crisis situations.

While he and Commissioner Barron L. Hetherington have remained mum on whether or not they support the center, Commissioner Gary J. Hess is a vocal opponent.

On Thursday, he vehemently upheld his position.

“I just want to say that I’ve always spoken out against this detention center, and if a resolution came in front of me, I would sign because we’ve heard it all,” he said. “It’s the federal government. They snuck in here, did what they wanted to do. But the thing is, we need to take a stand saying it’s no good for our people, it’s no good for living.

“At the end of the day, we might not be able to do anything. The only thing we can say is no, we don’t want this at all, and neither do all our residents.

“Think if you take it through the county, all the 143,000 citizens we serve would say no, we don’t want it.”