PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Two Philadelphia City Council members plan to introduce a package of legislation this week that would put limits on how Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents can operate in the city.
Council members Kendra Brooks and Rue Landau announced, at a rally-like press conference Tuesday, a package of seven bills that they’re calling “ICE OUT”. Brooks said some of the bills target ICE tactics used during enforcement actions.
“We want ICE out of the shadows,” Brooks said. “The legislation prohibits ICE agents from hiding their identities with masks and unmarked vehicles. We want ICE out of city property. The legislation prohibits ICE from using city-owned property as a staging area for raids.”
The legislation would also require ICE agents to display badges and a judicial warrant to use city property as a staging area. Some of the bills would put into law provisions currently set only in executive orders, such as barring collaboration with ICE and prohibiting discrimination based on citizenship.
“A Welcoming City is more than just rhetoric,” Landau said. “It’s a promise that every person who lives here can thrive in safety and peace.”
The city calls these “welcoming” policies, but the Trump administration regards them as “Sanctuary” policies and has threatened to cut off federal funding to Sanctuary Cities next week.
Landau said Philadelphia should not be intimidated.
“Philadelphia rejects the politics of fear,” she said. “We believe in a city where safety comes from accountability, from transparency, and from a government that shows up for its people.”
The approach is a contrast to Mayor Parker’s strategy of avoiding conflict with the Trump administration, but Landau said, given ICE actions in Minnesota that have left two U.S. citizens dead, it’s necessary.
“Silence is not going to make us safer. Action is going to make us safer,” Brooks said.