Immigration Advocates Rally at Capitol, Urge Shapiro to End ICE Data Sharing
Immigration advocates packed the state capitol demanding Gov. Shapiro end Pennsylvania’s data sharing with federal enforcement agencies.
HARRISBURG, PENNSYLVANIA — Immigrants’ rights advocates gathered in the state capitol rotunda Friday to demand Governor Josh Shapiro take executive action to limit federal immigration enforcement efforts across Pennsylvania.
The May Day rally brought together activists from the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition, the American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania, the Philadelphia Council on American-Islamic Relations, and Indivisible Pennsylvania.
“Pennsylvania is our home and it’s a home that loves immigrants,” said Jasmine Rivera, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition. “We are here to tell Governor Shapiro that he has the power to act right now … The governor can ensure that Pennsylvania chooses people over fear.”
Database Access Concerns
According to Alex Domingos, advocacy and policy strategist at the ACLU of Pennsylvania, federal immigration agents can currently access two Pennsylvania databases without obtaining judicial warrants.
Pennsylvania does not currently prohibit ICE agents from accessing the JNET database, which contains drivers’ license information collected by PennDOT, and the CLEAN database used by law enforcement agencies, Domingos explained during the rally.
Both databases can be searched without judicial oversight, advocates said.
Unanswered Communications
Rivera revealed that advocacy organizations sent Shapiro a detailed list of requested actions in March but never received a response from the governor’s office.
A spokesperson for Shapiro did not respond to a request for comment regarding the rally or the groups’ demands.
The organizations are also calling on the governor to establish a statewide policy that would prohibit sharing data collected from state benefit recipients with ICE.
Statewide Policy Demands
The advocacy groups want Shapiro to use his executive authority to end data sharing arrangements between Pennsylvania agencies and federal immigration enforcement.
The rally represents the latest effort by immigrant rights organizations to pressure state officials to implement sanctuary-style protections without legislative action.
Advocates emphasized that the governor has the immediate power to implement these changes through executive orders, rather than waiting for legislative processes.
