Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graf announced in a press release Wednesday, Feb. 26, that her office and members of Lebanon County law enforcement are “actively assisting with the location, detention, and deportation of illegal criminals within Lebanon County.”
Lebanon city police became the first force within the county to act on this collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Monday, Hess Graf said, when they took into custody 28-year-old Christopher Pereyra Pena over charges of simple assault in an alleged domestic violence incident.
According to the affidavit of probable cause, a city police officer was dispatched to the area of North Lincoln Avenue and Tiffany Lane around 6 p.m. Monday in reference to a physical domestic disturbance. The affidavit says that dispatch advised a man was punching a woman in the face and pulling her by the hair.
Arresting officer Erik Peiffer said in the affidavit that after arriving on scene he made contact with the suspect, later identified as Pereyra Pena, and placed him under arrest. Peiffer said he interviewed the woman who said she had been punched in the face by Pereyra Pena multiple times and pulled down the street by her hair. She told Peiffer that Pereyra Pena is her boyfriend and has “anger problems when he does not take his medicine,” according to the affidavit.
In the press release, the DA’s office said that, after making the arrest, police realized that Pereyra Pena “triggered the criteria necessary to notify ICE. ICE immediately lodged a detainer.”
Hess Graf told LebTown that her office received confirmation of the ICE detainer Tuesday.
The press release lauded President Donald Trump and border czar Tom Homan for their prioritization of “the identification, detention, and deportation of illegal criminals across the country.”
According to the release, the DA’s office has “collaborated with ICE to identify ways officers can proactively identify whether a suspect in an ongoing investigation is here illegally. If so, the criminal is subject to ICE detention and deportation. The officer immediately supplies the criminal’s information to the on-duty ICE agent who then lodges the ICE detainer and starts deportation proceedings.”
A detainer is a federal request to notify ICE before releasing a potentially dangerous alien, and allowing an opportunity for federal law enforcement to take the alien into custody themselves.
“Protecting the citizens of Lebanon County from criminals is always the highest priority of my office,” Hess Graf said in a statement. “Protecting the citizens and their resources from illegal criminals goes hand-in-hand.
“To all criminals within Lebanon County, yes, we will prosecute you. The current administration in the White House, however, enabled us to also do what you truly deserve – remove you from the country and access to its people whom you preyed upon and attacked. Illegal criminals residing within county lines will be identified and removed.”
Hess Graf said in a followup email to LebTown that the process of working with ICE has changed drastically for local law enforcement following President Trump’s inauguration for a second term in January.
“For the prior four years, ICE had very little interest in proactive detention and deportation within our county,” said Hess Graf. “Informally we were told their hands were tied by the powers that be under the former Biden administration. We then bided our time until the new Trump administration came into office in January.”
Hess Graf said she reached out to ICE in late January to coordinate, and met with federal officials that same week.
“ICE laid out criteria to identify known, illegal criminals currently sentenced and in the local system,” said Hess Graf. “The goal is detention and deportation for convicted illegal criminals in Lebanon County.”
Hess Graf declined to share specifics to avoid a potential criminal from having an awareness of the system and police methods.
“It’s an officer safety issue as well,” said Hess Graf.
Hess Graf said there are criteria for new criminal contacts and investigations that can trigger a suspicion a suspect is here illegally.
“When the suspicion arises, police or a member of my office contacts ICE to trigger the detainer and deportation proceedings,” said Hess Graf. “If bail doesn’t hold the suspect in our jail on the criminal matter, the suspect would go to an ICE facility. Deportation proceedings ensue.”
“I can say ICE is far more proactive and responsive currently than they were during the prior four years.”
Lebanon Mayor Sherry Capello said in an email to LebTown that city police have not changed their policies.
Of the situation, Mayor Capello said, “Officers responded to a domestic disturbance. Based on what we believed to have occurred on scene and other mitigating factors – no address, continued to threaten the victim with harm – LPD arrested the suspect.”
Capello said that the city believes once the suspect was in central booking and fingerprinted, it was determined that he met the criteria that the DA issued in her memo and ICE was contacted.
“We have not changed our policies,” said Capello. “We would have made this same arrest two months ago.”
“We are grateful that LPD was able to safely resolve the situation that day.”
According to court records, Pereyra Pena was arraigned Tuesday in front of Magisterial District Judge John W. Ditzler. Bail, set at $25,000, has not been posted, and Pereyra Pena is being held at Lebanon County Correctional Facility. With an ICE detainer in place, a defendant released on bail may be taken immediately into custody by federal officials.
Pereyra Pena will next appear in court on March 6 for a preliminary hearing in front of Magisterial District Judge Kim R. Wolfe.
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