Image via: Wikimedia Commons. Image description: An immigration enforcement officer stands with his back to the camera outside of a home where a person is being arrested.

On February 2, 2017, a delegation of constituents and immigrant rights advocates visited the offices of Pittsburgh Representative Dom Costa (D, Stanton Heights) to ask him to commit to support the civil rights and humanity of all immigrants in Pennsylvania by stating he would no longer sponsoring legislation that attacks immigrants.

Costa refused. Two weeks later, he brought new racist legislation to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives by co-sponsoring HB 459, which, if passed, would further endanger immigrant workers.

The representative has drawn attention from immigrants' rights advocates since he was listed as co-sponsor of HB 14, a bill in the General Assembly that would withhold state funding from state universities that designated themselves as sanctuary campuses. Costa has since removed his co-sponsorship and stated on Twitter that he was “wrongly … listed online.”

However, the legislative record of the former Pittsburgh Police Chief is evidence that, when it comes to matters of immigration and refugees, he will favor “law and order” over the protection of the most vulnerable members of the Pittsburgh community.