{"id":276624,"date":"2026-09-01T17:02:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-01T17:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/276624\/"},"modified":"2026-09-01T17:02:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-01T17:02:07","slug":"upper-darby-to-introduce-expansive-ice-ordinance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/276624\/","title":{"rendered":"Upper Darby to introduce expansive ICE ordinance"},"content":{"rendered":"

From Delco to Chesco and Montco to Bucks, what about life in Philly\u2019s suburbs do you want WHYY News to cover? Let us know!<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

Upper Darby will introduce legislation Wednesday to restrict collaboration and data-sharing with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in a township where nearly a quarter of the population<\/a> is foreign-born.\n<\/p>\n

In January, Upper Darby resident Parady La died while in ICE custody<\/a> after he was detained at the Philadelphia Federal Detention Center. La\u2019s death, along with the estimated hundreds of ICE arrests within the township this year, spurred Council to codify protections for its immigrant residents, said Councilmember At-Large Kyle McIntyre, one of the lead sponsors of the bill.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cFor us, federal law and immigration enforcement is a local issue,\u201d he said. \u201cThe goal of this ordinance is not to interfere with federal authority, but it is to establish clear rules governing Upper Darby\u2019s own government and resources.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

The legislation is \u201cone of the most advanced\u201d ICE protection bills outside of Philadelphia, McIntyre said, and could become a \u201cmodel ordinance.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

What\u2019s new in Upper Darby\u2019s ICE ordinance?<\/p>\n

Much of the bill is based on Philadelphia\u2019s \u201cICE Out\u201d legislation<\/a>, passed in April<\/a>, with some exceptions.\n<\/p>\n

For example, the township is requesting, not requiring, federal agents to identify themselves and refrain from wearing face masks. The Philadelphia ordinance banning face masks for law enforcement was challenged by the Trump administration and is currently paused after a judge ruled it unlawful in July<\/a>.\n<\/p>\n

The township is requiring Upper Darby Police to identify themselves, with some exceptions.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can\u2019t control what the federal agents do, but what we can do is ensure that our officers are clearly visible and identifiable at all times,\u201d McIntyre said. \u201cMeaning, if anybody tries to impersonate an Upper Derby police officer, it\u2019ll be very easy for our community to know that they\u2019re lying, and it also limits voluntary township assistance to any federal immigration agents who refuse to identify themselves, except for obviously where cooperation is legally required.\u201d\n<\/p>\n

The police will also document ICE activity in the township, per the provision, and share that record with the public.\n<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of times, this work has been left up to the community and community organizers, which has put them at risk, has endangered their lives,\u201d McIntyre said. \u201cWe\u2019ve seen it in Minneapolis twice, and we\u2019ve seen it across this country. But now, it is a public safety issue for us.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From Delco to Chesco and Montco to Bucks, what about life in Philly\u2019s suburbs do you want WHYY…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":276625,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[5202,147,149,148,150],"class_list":["post-276624","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upper-darby","tag-immigration-and-customs-enforcement","tag-upper-darby","tag-upper-darby-headlines","tag-upper-darby-news","tag-upper-darby-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276624","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=276624"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/276624\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/276625"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=276624"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=276624"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=276624"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}