Recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) action in Minneapolis and across the country has sparked both grassroots and legal resistance in many urban centers, including Philadelphia.
On Jan. 30, hundreds of people took to the streets to protest the killings of Renée Nicole Good and Alex Pretti by ICE agents, as well as multiple deaths of immigrants under federal custody. The protest was held in support of a national shutdown movement against ICE, and attending demonstrators demanded that the agency be abolished. It was organized by the Philadelphia chapter of the Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL), a nationwide left-wing political party.
The march began at 4 p.m. and lasted for roughly two and a half hours. Chanting protestors marched from City Hall to 30th Street Station, moving through streets still partially covered with ice and snow from Winter Storm Fern as temperatures dropped from nineteen to twelve degrees Fahrenheit.
One of the organizers and speakers at the demonstration, Talia Giles, told The Phoenix that to her knowledge, over 30 businesses in Philadelphia shut down in solidarity with Minneapolis, with more than 300 demonstrations held nationwide on the same day. According to Giles, the national movements are largely grassroots, and there is no single organization or institution coordinating the shutdown.
Last Monday, PSL organized a protest at an ICE headquarters in Philadelphia, but decided to hold a second protest in the same week after learning about a call from Minnesota for a general strike.
“Initially, I think a lot of us were hoping that maybe other students in Philly and other businesses would kind of take the lead, but [PSL] didn’t see anything happening. So we figured that we would call another protest on Friday to just demonstrate that solidarity, and also to push back against what’s going on in this country,” Giles said.
Throughout the event, several police officers on bicycles and in patrol cars followed the crowd, which, according to Giles, is not unusual for protests in Philadelphia. Toward the end of the demonstration, an officer confirmed to The Phoenix that they had been notified of the event in advance.
While Philadelphia residents voice their discontent with ICE on social media and through demonstrations, lawmakers have also been working on devising precautionary measures in case ICE targets Philadelphia.
During a City Council meeting on Thursday, Jan. 29, Philadelphia Council members Kendra Brooks (Minority Leader) and Rue Landau (At-Large) introduced “ICE OUT” legislation, a package of seven bills aimed at strengthening Philadelphia’s Welcoming City policies by codifying sanctuary policies into law. Later that day, a spokesperson for Brooks confirmed that the legislation was co-sponsored by fifteen of the Council’s seventeen members. The degree of support, which exceeds two-thirds, is sufficient to override a potential mayoral veto, indicating that the bills are likely to pass.
The legislative package was drafted in collaboration with local immigrants’ rights organizations such as the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition, New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, and the Pennsylvania branch of the ACLU. The bills range from measures limiting the collection and distribution of immigration-status information and barring city officials from fulfilling ICE detainment requests without a court order, to a controversial provision banning law enforcement officers from wearing masks. If approved, the package would make Philadelphia a city with some of the most rigorous local constraints on federal immigration-enforcement operations, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
Before the council meeting, a crowd packed the hallway in solidarity with undocumented immigrants and in support of the bills, holding signs reading “ICE OUT of Philly,” and chanting “we want ICE off our streets.” The meeting itself was similarly crowded, with Philadelphians filling the chamber to demonstrate their approval.
Around 30 residents testified in front of the council, including immigrants, workers, high school students, activists, a lawyer, and a psychiatrist. All but one spoke in favor of the resolutions. Several community leaders condemned ICE’s operations as unconstitutional and inhumane, invoking Philadelphia’s revolutionary history, broader American democratic values, and religious injunctions for mercy. Methodist pastor Rev. Gregory G. Holston, for example, cited the Bible: “The scripture says love your neighbor, it does not say love only your documented neighbor.”
Steven Morley, a retired immigration judge in Philadelphia, criticized the current administration for undermining the independence of immigration courts by dismissing judges committed to the rule of law, a move he said has created a chilling effect among those who remain. He added that he was “equally horrified” when the Board of Immigration Appeals and the Attorney General rewrote immigration law through executive decisions that “deeply infringe on the rights of foreign nationals.”
Lynn Landes, a local Republican activist, was the only person to testify against the legislation. Her speech was twice interrupted by angry audience members. She argued that sanctuary cities and states threaten the nation’s sovereignty and security. In a following interview, Landes told The Phoenix that she believes some policies made by sanctuary cities and states are unconscionable. “It is basically undermining the federal law,” she said.
Many ICE supporters hold similar views to Landes. Under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution, states and municipalities do not have the right to block federal agents from enforcing federal immigration law, jeopardizing sanctuary protections.
For critics of ICE tactics, on the other hand, recent operations in Minnesota are alleged to have violated the First, Fourth, Fifth, and Tenth Amendments of the Constitution.
Commenting on this legal conflict, Giles admitted that “it’s a tricky thing. There’re the state rights, the local and municipal rights, and there’re also the federal rights. Technically, the federal government could decide to send in the National Guard, which [they did] in 2020.” She points out, however, that legality does not indicate morality or justice, thus shouldn’t be cited when discussing the righteousness of a subject. “Slavery was legal,” she reminded.
Federal law has already become a weapon for Trump and his supporters in attacks on sanctuary cities and states. Philadelphia has been widely considered a sanctuary city since 2014, when then-Mayor Michael Nutter signed an executive order limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities over Obama’s Secure Communities Deportation Program.
On Jan.13, Trump threatened to block federal funding to sanctuary jurisdictions and their states beginning Sunday, Feb. 1. According to a DOJ list of sanctuary jurisdictions, Philadelphia is among them. Under Trump’s Executive Order 14287, cited by the DOJ, for sanctuary jurisdictions that “remain in defiance” after being notified, “the Attorney General and the Secretary of Homeland Security shall pursue all necessary legal remedies and enforcement measures to end these violations and bring such jurisdictions into compliance with the laws of the United States.”
According to a recent Inquirer article, ICE has purchased a nearly 520,000-square-foot warehouse in Berks County, with plans to convert it into a detention center. If the claim is accurate, this facility would be just an hour’s drive from Philadelphia and more than twice the size of the 243,000-square-foot Moshannon Valley Processing Center, located four hours away. The article notes that this expansion could pose a significant threat to the surrounding area, as research shows that immigrants are more likely to be arrested in counties with greater detention capacity.As of now, Philadelphia has not been among ICE’s primary targets. That said, immigrant detentions in the region have sharply increased since Trump’s second term began. Meanwhile, ongoing nationwide lawsuits against ICE, increasingly polarized public sentiment, and the potential expansion of detention facilities all render the future of these issues uncertain.
