Immigration groups rally Philly mayor to defend sanctuary city protections
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Immigration activists are pressuring Mayor Cherelle Parker to reaffirm and expand Philadelphia's sanctuary city policies.
Why it matters: President-elect Trump has pledged mass deportations, and his incoming "border czar," Tom Homan, is threatening to punish those who stand in the administration's way.
Driving the news: Immigration groups will rally downtown Tuesday, Human Rights Day, to demand that Parker take a firm stance on upholding the city's policies around protecting undocumented immigrants.
- The rally and march will kick off at 1pm at City Hall, then move to a vigil outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office at N Eighth and Cherry streets.
- Latino immigrant organization Juntos is organizing the event.
What they're saying: Erika Guadalupe Nunez, director of Juntos, tells Axios that uncertainty remains about how Parker will respond to potential federal immigration crackdowns.
- "This is a time for clarity. There's a lot at risk," she says.
- "We need a firmer commitment from Mayor Parker to really stand up and fight for immigrants in Philadelphia," Jasmine Rivera, director of the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition, tells Axios
The other side: Parker spokesperson Joe Grace tells Axios that the city's 2016 policies prohibiting certain cooperation with ICE remain in place, but he declined to answer questions about how the mayor will respond to the incoming Trump administration.
- Grace added that the Parker administration "remains laser-focused on the agenda that Philadelphians elected her to implement," which includes making Philly safer and cleaner.
Between the lines: Parker has signaled a cautious approach to the incoming Trump administration.
- Last month, Parker said, "I don't know what will happen in the future," when asked about whether she would fight to preserve Philly as a sanctuary city.
The big picture: Trump has pledged to declare a state of emergency and use the military to execute mass deportations.
- On Sunday, Trump proposed that families with mixed immigration status could be deported together.
- And his incoming administration is also developing a plan to withhold federal funds from sanctuary cities that don't assist with deportations, per the Washington Post.
Meanwhile, Homan has threatened at least one Democratic mayor with jail time for wanting to stop the possible mass deportations, per ABC.
Reality check: Trump's plans to deport the nation's roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants would face major hurdles and limits.
State of play: Philly police do not enforce federal immigration law, per a 2023 city news release.
- And ICE doesn't have access to city records of people in custody in Philly.
- The city is prevented from assisting ICE agents with detainer requests or notifying ICE about an individual's release.
The caveat: Local police can cooperate with ICE if an individual is being released for certain violent crimes and ICE's detainer request is backed up by a warrant.
Flashback: In 2016, then-Mayor Jim Kenney signed the city's latest sanctuary city policy, making Philly a so-called Fourth Amendment city.
- Kenney reinstated the policy after the previous mayor, Michael Nutter, nixed it.
By the numbers: Philly is home to an estimated 47,000 undocumented immigrants, per the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute think tank.
- Pennsylvania had an estimated 230,000 undocumented immigrants as of 2022, per a Pew Research report released last year.