Above photo: Philadelphia City Council passed ICE OUT legislation and the Safe Healthy Homes Act, April 23, 2026. WW/Joe Piette.
After months of community outreach and growing popular support, on April 23 the Philadelphia City Council, with a 15-to-2 majority, passed a series of bills called ICE OUT. The bills make it legally harder for city officials, agencies and police to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The seven-bill package, introduced in January by Councilmembers Kendra Brooks and Rue Landau, with support from immigrant rights groups, was designed to:
- Codify the city’s policy of not complying with ICE detainer requests, in which federal agents request that local jails help facilitate the arrest of people suspected of being unauthorized immigrants, unless the agency secures judicial warrants.
- Ban ICE agents from wearing masks to hide their identities or using unmarked vehicles in public and requiring badge display.
- Prohibit collaboration with ICE under state and local law enforcement 287(g) programs that delegate specific ICE duties to local officers.
- Stop sharing personal data on citizenship or immigration status with ICE.
- Ban discrimination based on immigration status in housing, employment and public accommodations.
- Require judicial warrants for ICE access to city-owned facilities, including libraries, hospitals and recreation centers.
- Ban ICE raids on city property.
The bills will enshrine Philadelphia’s “sanctuary” status and constitute one of the toughest local restrictions on federal immigration enforcement in the U.S.
Building community support
Several events were held leading up to the Council’s passage of this bill. Immigrants and workers from migrant solidarity groups, including Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition, rallied in Love Park on April 11 to support the ICE OUT package, prior to an initial April 13 City Council hearing on the bill.
Participants noted that the Trump administration is targeting immigrants, ripping families apart and terrorizing communities. ICE is operating with no accountability — targeting people at work, at markets, in churches, schools, hospitals and courthouses, scaring communities and neighbors into the shadows and making everyone less safe. City Hall must act, and this legislation is how people in Philadelphia protect their communities.
Crowds filled City Council hearings all day on April 13, often chanting “ICE out!” and testifying for the ICE OUT bills. At day’s end, a majority of Council members voted “yes” to advance the legislation to the April 23 vote at the City Council meeting.
ICE OUT of Courts press conference
Members of the ICE Out of Courts Coalition held an important press conference and rally in support of the legislation outside of the Criminal Justice Center (CJC) on April 21. They specifically called out the First Judicial District (FJD) leadership’s recent refusal to update existing court policy to protect residents from civil immigration arrests at local courthouses. The FJD is the judicial body governing Philadelphia County, consisting of the Court of Common Pleas, Municipal Court and Traffic Court.
For years, community organizations, civil rights organizations and advocates on the ground have noted a disturbing trend of immigration agents using local courthouses as ambush sites. Dozens of individuals, including defendants, victims and witnesses have been impacted, with recent reports confirming activity has extended to family court. There have been continued reports of aggressive and deceptive ICE agent tactics at CJC, including five arrests in the last two weeks, including that of a 76-year-old crime victim.
Courthouse arrests are especially troubling as they instill fear and discourage Philadelphia residents who could be racially profiled from appearing in court while also undermining the due process rights of immigrant communities who are detained in the midst of their legal proceedings. Despite model policies being introduced in other U.S. cities, local judicial leadership denied the coalition’s request to update existing policy, even as the city-level legislative package advanced out of a committee hearing earlier this week.
Organizers called on FJD leadership and the Sheriff’s Department to take urgent, public steps to revise and expand existing policy to better address abusive ICE tactics at local courthouses. The ICE Out of Courts press conference and rally featured speakers from the Defender Association, Asian Americans United, Juntos, the Pennsylvania chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union and No ICE Philly.
In an important act of solidarity during her statement to the large press contingent at the April 21 rally, a Juntos speaker twice called for the release of political prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal, whose 72nd birthday was being celebrated later in the week.
At the same April 23 legislative session, the city council passed the Safe Healthy Homes Act which strengthens tenants’ rights to safe and secure housing while holding irresponsible landlords accountable.
The ICE OUT legislation now heads to Mayor Cherelle Parker’s desk. The mayor can sign the proposals into law, allow them to become law without her signature or veto them. Parker has never vetoed a bill.
