PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — City Councilmember Rue Landau says she is bracing for a second Donald Trump administration, and she wants Philadelphia to get prepared, too.
Landau sponsored a resolution to hold hearings on what the city will do to protect vulnerable communities, in light of statements by President-elect Trump and his advisers about using the U.S. military to carry out mass deportations and about outlawing gender-affirming health care.
"My biggest fear is that the Trump administration is going to introduce new policies and roll back protections for immigrant communities and LGBTQ+ communities," said Landau.
The councilmember says Philadelphia has some of the strongest civil rights laws of any city in the country, and she wants to make sure its leaders are prepared to enforce them. Protecting vulnerable populations and reproductive rights benefits the entire city, she says.
“Trump 2.0 is a risk and a threat to all of us,” she said.
🎧 Bridging Philly: The Future of Reproductive Rights | 35 min.
During his campaign, Trump frequently linked a spike in unauthorized border crossings to issues ranging from drug trafficking to high housing prices. He has also attacked sanctuary cities, such as Philadelphia, that decline to voluntarily supply information to federal immigration enforcement officials, drawing attention to individual cases of an undocumented immigrant committing a violent crime.
Critics calling for expanded cooperation between local police and federal authorities, attack policies that limit such communication as detrimental to public safety. However, it’s not clear that a more aggressive approach to immigration enforcement makes anyone safer.
Advocates argue that sanctuary city policies build trust between law enforcement and immigrant communities by removing the fear of deportation, and encourage more people to report crime, thereby making the city safer.
Election victories for Trump and other Republicans whose campaigns demeaned transgender people and mocked Democrats for supporting equal rights for transgender people reinforced a widespread and growing backlash.
Republicans have threatened to restrict trans people’s rights by excluding students from Title IX protections, restricting or banning gender-affirming medical care for minors, barring women and girls from participating in certain sports, banning open service in the military, and curtailing medical care for service members and veterans.