Dec. 16, 2016
HARRISBURG – On Dec. 2, Rep. Jerry Knowles (R-Berks/Carbon/Schuylkill) circulated a co-sponsorship memo for legislation he intends to officially introduce in January. This bill would prohibit any institution of higher education in Pennsylvania that establishes itself as a “sanctuary campus” from receiving appropriations from the Commonwealth. He has received bipartisan support for this proposal.
“The intent of this bill is very simple, it just requires universities or colleges in the state of Pennsylvania to comply with federal law,” Knowles said. “If they choose to not comply, they will forfeit their state funding. Go by the rules or you don’t get the money. We cannot begin to select which laws we want to obey, and which laws we want to ignore and break.”
“Sanctuary campuses” exist when the school administration adopts policies to refuse to allow federal authorities on campus without a warrant; direct their campus law enforcement not to communicate, coordinate or cooperate with federal authorities regarding undocumented individuals on campus; or, refuse to share information about undocumented students with federal agencies unless presented with some form of legal process.
“By declaring themselves ‘Sanctuary Campuses,’ these institutions of higher learning are blatantly disregarding federal law, thumbing their noses at the taxpayers of Pennsylvania,” Knowles said. “Turning a blind eye to the issue of illegal immigrants on campuses for the sake of making some kind of political statement on this nation’s immigration policy is unconscionable.”
Knowles audio comments on this issue are available at here.
For more information about this issue, or any legislative topic, contact Knowles’ district office in Tamaqua at 570-668-1240, or in Hamburg at 610-562-3411. Information can also be found online at
RepKnowles.com or
Facebook.com/RepKnowles.
Representative Jerry Knowles
124th District
Pennsylvania House of Representatives
Media Contact: Krisinda Corbin
717.705.2032
kcorbin@pahousegop.com
RepKnowles.com /
Facebook.com/RepKnowles