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Philadelphia elected officials are doubling down on last week’s rhetoric against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who violate the law
District Attorney Larry Krasner joined Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal and some city council members in speaking out against the potential for mass ICE raids in the city during a news conference at Salt and Light Church in the city’s Kingsessing neighborhood.
Krasner said ICE agents who break the law in Philadelphia will be arrested.
“We will arrest you. We will put handcuffs on you. We will close those cuffs. We will put you in a cell,” he said. “We will do everything in our power to convict you and we will make sure you serve your entire sentence because Donald Trump has no power whatsoever to pardon you.”
Krasner also defended Bilal, who got national attention last week when she said she would “bring the smoke” against ICE. She doubled down on that statement today.
Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal speaks at the district attorney’s office press conference on public safety and ICE activity in the city on Jan. 14, 2026. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
She said that when someone commits a crime “in the city and the DA charges you, you will be arrested and you will go to jail. That’s the smoke.”
Councilmember Rue Landau said ICE raids can have a chilling effect that will prevent those without documentation from coming forward to testify in criminal cases, especially in cases such as domestic violence where the perpetrator could go free because of a lack of eyewitness testimony.
“If folks are scared to go to court, if they are scared the second they step out of their house to even get to that court hearing, they are in jeopardy,” Landau said. “If going to the hearing and walking outside puts them in harm’s way of ICE agents who are going to jump out of unmarked cars with unmarked vests and not showing their badges, they are going to jump on them, attack them and drag them away. They’re not going to participate in the process.”
Philadelphia City Councilmember Rue Landau speaks at the district attorney’s office press conference on public safety and ICE activity in the city Jan. 14, 2026. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY)
Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, who is the daughter of immigrants, said her concerns with the ICE raids are not only focused on those without documentation.