by Alex Lloyd Gross
The killing of protesters in Minneapolis and the draconian tactics used by some ICE Agents had resulted in legislation poised to obfuscate the efforts of ICE. At a rally in center city earlier , Minority Leader Kendra Brooks and Democratic Councilmember At-Large Rue Landau announced a comprehensive set of bills strengthens Philadelphia’s Welcoming City policies, protects personal data and civil rights, and aims to keep residents safe from violent federal immigration enforcement. It’s called ICE OUT.
Alex Loyd Gross File Photo Delaware Valley News.com Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner has been a vocal opponent of ICE. Krasner said it is 100 percent legal to film ICE Agents doing their job.
ICE Agents are rounding up immigrants who are here illegally. Some are criminals with police records and some have absconded from bail and are wanted on warrants. However, many others are hard working and have never been in trouble with the law. Still, there are horror stories of those kinds of people being rounded up, chased down and deported or held in detention. These proposals
- Prohibits ICE and other law enforcement agents from concealing their identities with face masks or unmarked vehicles and requires officers to display badges
- Codifies executive orders banning 287(g) agreements, which allow local police to act as ICE agents
- Prohibits city agencies from collaborating with ICE
- Prevents city agencies from collecting citizenship or immigration status information or sharing personal data with ICE
- Prohibits discrimination or denial of services based on citizenship or immigration status by the City, employers, housing providers, or private businesses.
- Prohibits ICE from using city-owned properties as staging locations for raids.
- Bars city employees from granting ICE access to city-owned spaces—such as libraries, shelters, health centers, and recreation centers—without a judicial warrant.
This legislation has been endorsed by over forty local organizations, including: ACLU PA, Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition, New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, Make the Road Pennsylvania, Woori Center, Asian Americans United, CAIR-Philadelphia, Victim/Witness Services of South Philadelphia, National Domestic Workers Alliance, OnePA, Philly UNITE HERE, Pennsylvania Working Families Party, HIAS Pennsylvania, Philly Queer Fundy, VietLead, Philly DSA, Abolitionist Law Center, Alliance for a Just Philadelphia, 215 People’s Alliance, Asian Pacific Islander Political Alliance, El Comité de Trabajadorxs de Restaurantes, Free Migration Project, Sunrise Movement Philadelphia, People’s Tech Project, Puentes de Salud, Philadelphia Asian & Queer, Asian Food Collective, BDBC, Social Workers Ending Poverty Together (SWEPT), Crayons for Haiti, Inc., Asian Arts Initiative, Philly Muslim Freedom Fund, Kol Tzedek, Philly Childcare Collective, Sarin Gal, Association of Mexican Business Owners of Philadelphia, Gapura, Reclaim Philadelphia, Women of Color Global Women’s Strike/Philadelphia, Payday Men’s Network, Philly Thrive, ECAGP, Mennonite Action Philly, Caribbean Community in Philadelphia, Esperanza Immigration Legal Services, Black.Bird.Rising Healing Collective, Guinean Association of Delaware Valley, and more.
There have been frightening documentation of ICE Agents arresting journalists, smacking cameras and phones from the hands of people lawfully recording them and beating up journalists.