Sheriff seeks liability insurance after news work assisting ICE won’t be covered
The Butler County sheriff’s office is obtaining price quotes for liability insurance to cover deputies while they assist in federal immigration enforcement efforts after learning they won’t be covered under the current policy after June 1.
The Pennsylvania Counties Risk Pool, known as PCoRP, has notified the county that employees acting under the direction of any federal agency dealing with immigration enforcement will be excluded from liability coverage beginning June 1.
Sheriff Mike Slupe signed a memorandum of understanding with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in June for deputies to assist ICE with enforcement under a 287(g) agreement.
At their April 8 meeting, county commissioners discussed a memo from PCoRP saying an April 10 vote was scheduled on a proposal to not cover county employees working with ICE under 287(g) agreements. County officials said PCoRP approved the proposal.
Slupe said he has one price quote for liability insurance and is expecting two or three more.
“We are looking for alternative liability insurance specifically for the 287(g) program,” Slupe said.
He said he believes his office will have coverage by June 1.
“We’re very confident,” Slupe said.
In addition, he is waiting for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees ICE, to pay the stipend due to law enforcement agencies that assist ICE. He is also preparing to submit a payment request to cover the wages of the deputies for the time they worked with ICE.
The stipend is $100,000 and $7,500 for each of the 13 deputies who have assisted ICE, Slupe said. The combined total is $197,500.
“I’ve submitted that and I’m waiting for payment,” Slupe said.
He said he also is gathering the number of hours and days that each deputy has spent working with ICE and is reviewing their benefits packages to determine how much the federal government owes for individual deputies and request payment. He said deputies have assisted ICE more than a dozen times.
County commissioners did not respond to messages seeking comment.
PCoRP is administered through the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania.
