PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — After a Philadelphia man was stopped while leaving the Criminal Justice Center on Monday and pushed into the back of a waiting ICE vehicle, advocates have again called on the city to do more to protect immigrant rights.
Lenore Ramos, an organizer with immigration advocacy group Juntos, said ICE agents seized a man as he left court. The man’s partner tried to intervene.
“She held him,” Ramos said. “They kissed, and then they took him away.”
That was one of several stories advocates shared outside the Criminal Justice Center during a press conference, where they stressed they believe authorities can do more to protect immigrants around the courthouse.
“As he was walking away, ICE approached him … and there was a car ready as well to, sort of, kidnap him,” Ramos added. “She managed to get in front of them, and she held on to him. It was an incredible and bittersweet thing to see.”
Lilah Thompson, who heads the Defender Association of Philadelphia’s Immigration Law Practice, said her team has been tracking the issue since 2023. “In 2023, there were 13 CJC-based ICE arrests. In 2024, there were only two that we were able to confirm. In 2025, from January to April, there were 48 and just since January 2026, there have been 17 confirmed ICE arrests,” she detailed.
“The majority of folks are arrested in or on the sidewalk as they're exiting the CJC and it's essentially like an ambush. Just like one of the stories that we described, six [or] seven agents will ambush an individual and arrest them. They immediately handcuff their hands, place them in a black van and transport them off the property before we can even oftentimes figure out who they are.”
Elena Brunner, immigration rights organizer for Asian Americans United, told a recent story of a 75-year-old immigrant who was briefly detained and then released by ICE, after he testified as a victim in a case.
“The person that was here does have an application in the court for immigration, was following all of the protocols laid out before them, and was still taken and arrested,” Brunner said.
Common Pleas Court President Judge Nina Wright Padilla has said the sheriff is in charge of courthouse security. Earlier this year, Sheriff Rochelle Bilal issued a statement that her office does not cooperate with ICE and that deputies do not have authority outside city facilities.
“We want the sheriff or the judges or whoever is allegedly in charge of this courthouse to stand up for the people who are coming here for their due process. I think the demand is that people's due process is respected and protected, which right now it is not,” said Ramos.
Thompson believes that more can be done. “The sheriff's office and the courts can take action to clarify their policies and strengthen their policies by allowing transparency, having people who are making these arrests be uniformed [and] having them have judicial warrants if they're going to be arresting people,” she said, “having sidewalks that are safe zones for people to not be arrested in the vicinity of the courthouse, so that they can properly access justice.”
Both the Philadelphia Sheriff’s and President Judge’s offices, as well as ICE, have not answered calls for comment.
