PHILADELPHIA (CBS) —  More than a dozen immigrant rights organizations have signed a letter calling on President Biden and both Pennsylvania senators to stop the pursuit of legislation they say restricts asylum eligibility, closes the border and further militarizes immigration enforcement.

Outside Sen. Bob Casey’s Philadelphia office, Jasmine Rivera, the executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigrant and Citizenship Coalition, and others gathered themselves before walking the letter inside. 

“We are calling on the senators and on the president to stop their attacks on the immigrant community both through their rhetoric and through policy,” Rivera said. 

The group was prevented from actually going to Casey’s office, however, a representative listened to their concerns in the foyer. 

“To flee violence and instability and lack of opportunity to come here to the United States. Those reasons vary from folks who have been threatened by cartels,” Rivera said. 

The partial ban on asylum claims is expected to be activated when daily migrant apprehensions between ports of entry surpass 2,500, two sources briefed on the policy told CBS News, meaning it would likely take effect immediately. 

According to the National Partnership for New Americans (NPNA): “Pennsylvania is home to 85,083 citizens naturalized between 2016 and 2020.”

Sen. Casey’s office provided a statement to CBS Philadelphia:

“I have consistently voted to increase the number of border patrol agents and inspection technology at the border, and I have led the fight to stop the flow of fentanyl coming through ports of entry. The President’s action is an important step to secure our southwest border, but more needs to be done to address this crisis. I will continue to work with anyone who is willing to come to the table and get that done.”

The letter is asking the senators and Biden, “to stop the attacks on immigrants and demonstrate a commitment to the immigrant community by terminating ICE contracts at the Moshannon, Pike, Clinton and Elizabeth Detention Centers. 

This comes one week after PICC member organizations dropped off the letter in Sen. Casey’s Pittsburgh offices.

“Right now, the rights are being violated in the United States when folks are seeking refuge, seeking asylum, seeking a better future and we are here to fight for those rights and to demand dignity and justice for all,” Rivera said. 

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The University of Pennsylvania has effectively banned encampments on its campus following multiple arrests of pro-Palestinian protesters last month.

According to UPenn’s Temporary Standards and Procedures for Campus Events and Demonstrations, encampments and overnight demonstrations are not permitted in any university location, regardless of space. Unauthorized overnight activities will be considered trespassing.

The demonstration guidelines also won’t allow people to “erect structures, walls, barriers, sculptures, or other objects on University property without prior permission from the Vice Provost for University Life.”

Demonstrations are also not permitted at multiple campus locations, including the following:

• Private offices
• Private residences
• Research laboratories and associated facilities
• Computer centers
• Offices
• Museums
• Libraries
• Other facilities that normally contain valuable or sensitive materials, collections, equipment, records protected by law or by existing university policy such as educational records, student-related or personnel-related records, or financial records
• College Hall and its exterior steps and entrance ways
• Classrooms, seminar rooms, auditoriums or meeting rooms in which classes or private meetings are being held or are immediately scheduled
• Hospitals, emergency facilities, communication systems, utilities or other facilities or services vital to the continued functioning of the university
• University sculptures and statues

According to a statement from the university, the standards “reinforce and reaffirm Penn’s commitment to open expression” and “ensure that events, demonstrations, and other expressions of free speech are appropriately managed.”

Last month, 33 protesters were arrested on Penn’s campus while police dismanted the Gaza Solidarity Encampment, which lasted for weeks. The encampment centered around three student-led demands: “Divulge, Divest and Defend.” The day before, Penn placed six students on a mandatory leave of absence for their reported participation in the encampment.

Greene County District Attorney Brianna Vanata said she acted to end the case against Leon “Lee” Price after reviewing an investigator’s report that said he felt charges were not justified in the July 2020 death of 54-year-old Diania Kronk.

“There was just no criminal culpability here,” Vanata said in a phone interview Thursday. She said the decision to pursue charges two years after Kronk died — and shortly after her family filed a lawsuit over it — was a mistake by the then-district attorney, Dave Russo.

“I’m not sure what the previous district attorney was thinking,” Vanata said. “That’s where I’m at.”

Price’s defense lawyer, Timothy Ross, said Thursday the charges had been a stressful ordeal for his client, who he described as an upstanding employee who had consistently maintained he was innocent of the allegations. In the wake of Kronk’s death, Ross said, an investigator had told Price he would not be charged.

Ross said Price is “moving forward, rebuilding his reputation in this community and just happy to put these charges behind him.”

Investigators had said Price was reluctant to dispatch help without getting more assurances Kronk would actually go to the hospital.

Vanata said she based her decision on an August 2020 memo by Greene County Regional Police Chief Zachary Sams that said Price may not have been trained properly and the investigator felt Price’s actions did not “rise to the levels necessary to facilitate a criminal charge.”

On a recording, Price was heard questioning Kronk’s daughter Kelly Titchenell for about four minutes. As Titchenell described her mother’s condition, Price asked if Kronk was “willing to go” to the hospital about a half-hour away from her home in Sycamore. Titchenell assured him she would and said she was concerned her mother might die.

Titchenell told the dispatcher Kronk had been drinking heavily for some weeks, she had been losing weight and appeared to be turning yellow.

Price said he would send an ambulance but then added that “we really need to make sure she’s willing to go.” Price asked Titchenell to call once she got to Kronk’s home, but Titchenell said she could not find her mother’s landline and there was not cell service.

Titchenell said that when she got to Kronk’s home, her mother was nude on the porch and talking incoherently, telling her repeatedly she was OK. Titchenell said an autopsy attributed Kronk’s death to internal bleeding.

Titchenell did not call 911 again on her way home, believing that her uncle would soon check on her. The uncle discovered the next day that Kronk had died.

Russo said there was ample evidence and called Vanata’s move to drop the case a political decision. Russo said Thursday the involuntary manslaughter charge had survived previous defense efforts to have it dismissed.

At Vanata’s request, a judge withdrew the charges on Monday. Jury selection and trial had been scheduled for next week.

Vanata said she approached Price about a potential plea bargain to a lesser charge but he did not take the deal. Titchenell questioned the decision to drop charges.

“I feel that there was too much for the new district attorney to go through,” Titchenell said in a phone interview Wednesday. “She would have had to put in a lot of time and work to understand this case, to go over everything. I feel there was too much for her, so she was trying to basically get away without going to trial.”

Vanata said she spent “many, many hours” going through the evidence since taking office in January. She beat Russo in the 2023 GOP primary by 44 percentage points. “It definitely was not an easy decision to come to.”

Price is no longer a dispatcher and now works for Greene County in maintenance.

“Mr. Price did lose his job and this, I’m sure, has been an ordeal for him,” Vanata said. “But also I feel so horrible for the family that had to go through this as well. It dragged them along for four years also.”

This article was generated from an automated news agency feed without modifications to text.