County Fight Contested

Philadelphia PA — City Council Passes 'ICE Out' Legislative Package

Philadelphia, PA FIPS 42101

Current status: Philadelphia City Council passed a seven-bill 'ICE Out' package on April 23, 2026 (mostly 16-1 votes). On May 7, 2026, Mayor Cherelle Parker SIGNED six of the seven bills and let the seventh — the ban on masked agents — become law without her signature (no veto), after City Solicitor Renee Garcia flagged 'significant legal problems' with regulating federal agents' conduct. The package codifies sanctuary status, bans ICE staging on city property, bars data-sharing, and protects Safe Community Places. Provisions take effect in July 2026 (60 days after signing). Cements among the nation's toughest local ICE restrictions; mask-ban provision faces likely federal preemption challenge.

The Fight

On April 23, 2026, Philadelphia City Council passed a seven-bill “ICE Out” legislative package, placing the city at the forefront of municipal resistance to Trump’s deportation campaign. The bills were co-authored by Councilmember at-Large Rue Landau (Democrat) and Minority Leader Kendra Brooks (Working Families Party), with 15 of the 17 council members signed on as co-sponsors before the vote.

The package passed with mostly 16-1 votes; two measures passed 15-2, with Councilmember Mike Driscoll joining Republican Brian O’Neill in opposition.

What the seven bills do:

No city property for ICE staging — prohibits federal authorities from using city property as staging or processing areas for immigration enforcement
No masked agents — bans law enforcement from concealing identities with masks during operations
Safe Community Places — bars ICE from accessing nonpublic areas of recreation centers, libraries, hospitals, schools, and courthouses
Codified sanctuary — makes Philadelphia’s sanctuary status statutory rather than merely policy, harder to reverse by executive action
No immigration status discrimination — creates a protected class barring discrimination based on immigration status
No data sharing — prohibits data-sharing agreements between the city and ICE
No conditioned benefits — bars conditioning city services or benefits on immigration status

Legal exposure: A federal appeals court had recently blocked a similar California mask law. ACLU Pennsylvania senior attorney Vanessa Stine called the Philadelphia measures “legally sound” and grounded in constitutional law, but acknowledged some provisions face preemption risk.

Mayor’s position — RESOLVED May 7, 2026: Mayor Cherelle Parker signed six of the seven bills into law on May 7, 2026, codifying the city’s sanctuary policies and banning ICE raids on city-owned property. She took no action on the seventh — the ban on agents concealing their identities — which becomes law anyway because she did not veto it. City Solicitor Renee Garcia had warned Parker the mask bill presented “significant legal problems,” including whether the city has authority to regulate the conduct of federal agents. The new provisions take effect in July 2026, 60 days after signing.

DA’s posture: DA Larry Krasner publicly opposed ICE operations in the city throughout 2026, declining to cooperate with federal enforcement in ways that extended beyond his office’s jurisdiction.

Timeline

2026-04-13: City Council Committee of the Whole votes unanimously in support of ICE Out package
2026-04-23: Full City Council passes all seven bills (mostly 16-1 votes)
2026-04-24: National and local press covers vote; Democracy Now! headlines the package
2026-04-XX: Legal experts flag preemption exposure; ACLU PA defends bills as constitutionally sound
2026-05-07: Mayor Parker signs six of seven bills; lets the mask-ban bill become law without signature (no veto); provisions effective July 2026

Key Actors

Councilmember Rue Landau — co-lead sponsor
Minority Leader Kendra Brooks — co-lead sponsor; “Philadelphians are not afraid to stand up to the Trump administration”
Mayor Cherelle Parker — signed six bills May 7, 2026; let mask ban become law unsigned
City Solicitor Renee Garcia — warned mask ban presents “significant legal problems”
DA Larry Krasner — publicly opposed ICE operations; administrative ally
Vanessa Stine, ACLU PA — called bills “legally sound”

Why This Fight Matters

Philadelphia’s ICE Out package is the most comprehensive municipal anti-ICE legislative package enacted in Pennsylvania and one of the broadest in any major U.S. city. The combination of staging bans, mask prohibitions, Safe Community Places protections, and explicit data-sharing prohibitions creates layered legal and operational obstacles to ICE enforcement. The battle now shifts to whether Mayor Parker signs, and whether the Trump DOJ files a Supremacy Clause suit — as it did against New Haven just nine days before the Council vote.

Sources

This research is published at The RAMM — investigative reporting on the detention pipeline.

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