(The Center Square) – Pittsburgh residents want city officials to ask its nominated police chief how he will manage immigration enforcement activity amid escalating violence between protestors and federal agents.
Jason Lando, a two-decade veteran of the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, was tapped by Mayor Corey O’Connor earlier this month to lead the $118-million-dollar agency. He faces the City Council on Wednesday for a public interview under oath, in keeping with a new policy adopted after his predecessor, Larry Scirotto, resigned for breaking his promise to stop refereeing NCAA games.
During City Council’s Tuesday meeting, a handful of residents told officials that Lando should answer questions about how the bureau and its roughly 800 officers will interfere with Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids after O’Connor himself said he wouldn’t cooperate with the agency.
“How will the chief of police enforce the law if the people breaking the law are wearing vests that say immigration or border patrol?” asked Ben Case, a resident of Fineview. “And how do they advise the residents of Pittsburgh to respond if they are being attacked by people who are wearing vests that say immigration or border patrol?
“If armed or masked men kicked open my door and invaded my home, should I call the police? And if I do, will they respond, will they do anything?” he added.
Lando’s tenure with the bureau stretches back to 2006, though he most recently led Zone 5 in the city’s northeastern corner, home to the Squirrel Hill neighborhood and the Tree of Life Synagogue where 11 people were gunned down in 2018.
Tim Stevens, founder and CEO of the Pittsburgh Black Empowerment Project, said Tuesday that his personal experience with Lando, while serving in Zone 5, stands out from ongoing public concerns about immigration enforcement.
“I found him to be one of the most community-oriented officers with whom I’ve ever worked,” he said. “I feel that comes from his heart and I see that he would be a great police chief.”
Lando isn’t the only one under scrutiny on Wednesday. Sheldon Williams, nominee to lead the Department of Public Safety that oversees the bureau, will face similar questioning.
“I had a brief conversation with him a number of weeks ago … based on my conversation with him and the philosophy that he stated, I think that we have hopefully a dynamic duo,” Stevens said.
The requests follow a unanimous resolution from the City Council to press U.S. Sens. Dave McCormick and John Fetterman to reconsider support for a $10 billion federal appropriation to ICE, accusing the agency of “lawless, cruel and unconstitutional” behavior.
More than 1,000 people in Pittsburgh were taken into ICE custody last year, according to the council.
It’s already a divisive issue in the state. The commonwealth’s two largest metropolitan areas, Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, have policies limiting cooperation with ICE and protecting immigrant residents, though Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker has been tight-lipped on criticism of the Trump administration.
Meanwhile, 51 different local law enforcement agencies within Pennsylvania, out of roughly 1,000, have signed agreements partnering with ICE through its 287(g) program.
Lawmakers on both sides of aisle have proffered legislation to prevent or demand law enforcement cooperation with the agency, though none have bipartisan support.
