April 13, 2026
Daniella Heminghaus/Imagn Images
City Council is considering new restrictions on ICE agents, including banning them from using city-owned property to conduct immigration raids. But the Parker administration is pushing back, saying the legislative package contains some 'legally problematic language.'
City Council appears poised to prohibit Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from using face masks, unmarked vehicles and city-owned properties during raids in Philadelphia, among other new restrictions. But the Parker administration is warning that portions of the legislative package contain "legally problematic language."
The seven-bill "ICE Out" package also would restrict city agencies from sharing data or collaborating with ICE and prohibit discrimination based on immigration or citizenship status illegal in Philly.
The Committee of the Whole, which includes all 17 members of City Council, approved an amended version of the legislative package Monday after hearing testimony from immigration experts and Parker administration officials. The package now can be introduced at the next regular council session.
The package was co-authored by Kendra Brooks (Working Families Party-At-Large) and Rue Landau (D-At-Large). Each bill has at least 13 co-sponsors in addition to Brooks and Landau — enough support to pass them without Mayor Cherelle Parker's signature.
Brooks said she has collected signatures from more than 2,000 residents who support the legislation. Should the bills pass, Landau said, she intends to make sure they don't "sit on a shelf," but are fully implemented.
"Being a welcoming city cannot just be branding," Landau said. "It cannot just be something we put on a website or say at a press conference. It has to mean something in people's real, everyday lives. It has to show up in how every agency operates every, single day. If our policies look good on paper but fail in practice, then we are not truly welcoming. We are offering a promise we are not prepared to keep."
Parker's stance on the legislation had been unclear until the hearing.
Charlie Elison, director of the city's Office of Immigrant Affairs, testified that Parker "wholeheartedly" supports the bill that that bars discrimination based on immigration status. However, he warned the remaining six bills pose legal issues.
Elison pointed to bills that prohibit the use of city-owned properties for immigration enforcement and ban city employees from consenting to the use of these spaces. Signs would be installed at these sites to make this policy clear. But Elison said the legislation includes spaces that that are out of the city's jurisdiction, including schools and courts.
Instead, he said, Parker's office is considering the feasibility of installing signs at recreation centers, libraries and other city-owned spaces.
"We understand and appreciate the intent behind this legislation," Elison said. "The Parker administration has taken and plans to continue to undertake several executive actions that align with these bills."
City solicitor Renee Garcia said some of the amendments to legislative package, which she received Friday, address some of the legal issues. Should council approve the measures, she said her office would provide a legal opinion on enforcement.
Elison said Parker supports the city's existing immigration policies enacted by her predecessors. They include an executive order signed by Michael Nutter in 2009 that ensures all city services are available to all residents, regardless of their immigration status, and an order signed by Jim Kenney in 2016. That order prohibits local law enforcement from fulfilling ICE requests to hold people who otherwise would be released from custody — unless a judicial warrant is issued.
Parker plans to release a memo explaining how these policies work together, Elison said. Also, the city's law department is working with procurement officials to add language to the city contracts to "more explicitly protect the immigration status of individuals," he said.
The police department also plans to release a memo on its policies for interacting with non-local government officials, Deputy Police Commissioner Francis Healy testified. It will be a "quasi-directive" that police leadership can make changes to, Healy said.
Healy said the department has had several discussions about its protocols on working with ICE agents, and this directive, which was finalized last week, will change that. Police will not get involved in an arrest unless an agent is in crisis and calls for backup.
"Oftentimes, you'll see our officers as the line between ICE and protesters," Healy said. "The issue is our job is not to take a side, and the issue is the only time we would get involved is if there's actually physical violence or someone's actually in imminent harm."
