{"id":166225,"date":"2026-04-15T06:59:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-15T06:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/166225\/"},"modified":"2026-04-15T06:59:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-15T06:59:10","slug":"ice-out-bills-advance-with-broad-city-council-support","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/166225\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018ICE Out\u2019 bills advance with broad City Council support"},"content":{"rendered":"

City Council<\/a> is poised to pass a legislative package designed to ensure that Philadelphia does not collaborate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a>, which has been tasked with carrying out President Donald Trump\u2019s mass deportation effort.<\/p>\n

Mayor Cherelle Parker\u2019s administration told lawmakers that all but one of the seven bills contain \u201clegally problematic language,\u201d but Council appears undeterred. The legislation advanced out of committee Monday in an unanimous voice vote of the whole body, with five members absent.<\/p>\n

\u201cI firmly believe that what we\u2019ve passed will be upheld by any courts, and, if there\u2019s a lawsuit, I know our city will fight it as hard as we possibly can,\u201d said Councilmember Rue Landau, one of the sponsors behind the legislation, referred to as the \u201cICE Out\u201d package.<\/p>\n

Parker seems unlikely to hold up the bills. While representatives from her administration expressed legal reservations during a hearing this week, they did not formally oppose the legislation or request that it be held in committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis package of legislation is one of the most comprehensive efforts from a local government to step up and meet the moment,\u201d the measure\u2019s other primary backer, Councilmember Kendra Brooks, added.<\/p>\n

Among other provisions, the ICE Out bills would:<\/p>\n

Make it a criminal offense for law enforcement officers to wear masks, conceal their badges, don plainclothes or use an unmarked car, with limited exceptions.<\/p>\n

Bar federal immigration officers from entering municipal buildings, libraries, recreation centers, schools and other facilities, unless they have a signed judicial warrant.<\/p>\n

Generally prohibit city employees from asking about a resident\u2019s immigration status or requiring them to show a U.S. passport or state driver\u2019s license, instead of a City ID, which can be issued to undocumented immigrants.<\/p>\n

Formally forbids the city from entering into a 287(g) agreement with ICE, does not allow municipal contracts to be awarded to entities that do business with immigration authorities and bans police officers and other city workers from complying with immigration detainers and administrative warrants.<\/p>\n

Stipulates that no city property, including parking lots, be used as a staging area, processing location or operations base for federal immigration agents.<\/p>\n

Prevents the sharing of personal data maintained by the city for the purpose of immigration enforcement.<\/p>\n

Adds citizenship and immigration status to a law banning employment, housing and public accommodation discrimination.<\/p>\n

ICE did not respond Tuesday to a request for comment on the legislation.<\/p>\n

Landau and Brooks said they spent months working on the bills before introducing the package in January<\/a>. Conversations have continued, particularly with the Fraternal Order of Police and other municipal unions, leading to a host of mostly technical amendments.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers granted preliminary approval to the legislation following an all-day hearing that featured testimony from experts, faith leaders and individuals directly impacted by the Trump administration\u2019s immigration policies.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day I\u2019m reminded that what is happening to others in our country could happen to me,\u201d said Merelyn \u201cMerry\u201d Mejia-Shepard, a 14-year-old member of Make the Road Pennsylvania<\/a>. \u201cEvery day I leave for school, I am filled with dread that it could be the last time I see my parents\u2019 faces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Charlie Elison, director of the city\u2019s Office of Immigrant Affairs<\/a>, told lawmakers that the Parker administration is already moving to align itself with Council\u2019s proposals.<\/p>\n

He said a pair of executive orders relating to immigration, signed by Parker\u2019s two predecessors, remain in effect. Those directives, taken together, ensure access to city services for undocumented individuals; prohibit the collection and disclosure of immigration status unless legally necessary; prohibit police from asking about status unless it is relevant to an investigation; and specify that the city jails do not honor ICE detainers.<\/p>\n

Memos will be sent out in the near future to city employees to remind them of those orders and the appropriate guidelines, Elison said. Virtual training will also be offered.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe plan on implementing these changes as quickly as possible,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The Philadelphia Police Department<\/a>, meanwhile, distributed a memo to officers earlier this month to formalize its policies for interactions with ICE, according to city officials.<\/p>\n

Deputy Police Commissioner Fran Healy testified that the PPD does not share any information with ICE, and he said officers would intervene if they witnessed a federal agent assaulting a member of the public.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a collaboration on civil enforcement between us and ICE. Period,\u201d Healy added. \u201cThat is not what we do, and that is not what we want to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elison stated that \u201cnobody has ever accused the mayor of refusing to stand up and fight,\u201d which elicited a response of \u201cyes we have\u201d from someone inside the crowded Council chambers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Parker has not been as vocal in opposition to the Trump administration as her predecessor, Jim Kenney, and District Attorney Larry Krasner, frustrating immigrant advocates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI reject the notion that if we somehow stay silent, we will remain in the good graces of the Trump administration,\u201d Brooks said. \u201cIf we are more worried about poking the bear than protecting our own, we are letting our city be bullied.\u201d<\/p>\n

Multiple Council members said the Parker administration should be leading or co-hosting \u201cknow your rights\u201d training sessions to educate residents about dealing with ICE. Elison said that his office supports that type of programming but has decided it is best done by immigration attorneys and trusted community groups.<\/p>\n

\u201cTrump will be out of office in a couple of years,\u201d City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier commented. \u201cOur immigrant population will still be here, and they\u2019re going to wonder why you did not support them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\tKeywords<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\tPhiladelphia City Council,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t ICE Out bills,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Philadelphia immigration policy,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Cherelle Parker,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t ICE Philadelphia,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t sanctuary city Philadelphia,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t immigration enforcement,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Philly politics,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Rue Landau,\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t Kendra Brooks\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"City Council is poised to pass a legislative package designed to ensure that Philadelphia does not collaborate with…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":166226,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9537,74958,74960,23080,26289,69,5648,71,74959,70,74962,2299,74961],"class_list":{"0":"post-166225","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-cherelle-parker","9":"tag-ice-out-bills","10":"tag-ice-philadelphia","11":"tag-immigration-enforcement","12":"tag-kendra-brooks","13":"tag-philadelphia","14":"tag-philadelphia-city-council","15":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","16":"tag-philadelphia-immigration-policy","17":"tag-philadelphia-news","18":"tag-philly-politics","19":"tag-rue-landau","20":"tag-sanctuary-city-philadelphia"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166225"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166225\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}