Up to six Washington County inmates could be detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Jose Turcios Salmeron, a native of El Salvador, was being held at Washington County Jail on charges of aggravated and simple assault. He was released to ICE Thursday, according to a statement from the county commissioners this week.
Five additional inmates taken to the county jail last week are undocumented immigrants could also be detained by ICE, the statement said.
“We want it crystal clear that Washington County is not a sanctuary county,” Chairman Nick Sherman (R-North Strabane) wrote in the statement. “I applaud the Trump administration for their due diligence in helping clear criminal illegal aliens from our jail. The days of the catch and release policy are over.”
Washington County Jail released 2,178 incarcerated people into the county last year, the commissioners said in the statement. Less than five of them were undocumented immigrants who were transferred to ICE.
The detainment comes as President Donald Trump has issued quotas for ICE to ramp up arrests, according to the Washington Post — including at schools and other sensitive sites once shielded from such actions.
During a PA Press Club event in Harrisburg Monday, Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey said his administration would make the city welcoming.
“My administration will not work with ICE,” Gainey said. “We will do whatever’s necessary to make our city more welcoming. That’s what we’re built on.”
