Pennsylvania counties have made more than $21 million in recent years by detaining immigrants for federal agencies — sometimes holding people for months, even when they have not been charged with a crime.

These agreements may bring in revenue, but they come at a cost to our communities. When local budgets begin to rely on detaining people in civil immigration cases, it creates incentives that put profit ahead of fairness, transparency, and human dignity.

County leaders have the power to change this.

We are calling on Pennsylvania county commissioners and prison boards to end contracts that allow local jails to profit from immigrant detention and to commit to funding systems that reflect the values of their communities — not dependence on incarceration.