ICE in Philadelphia: Sanctuary Law, DOJ Lawsuit, and 287(g)

ICE in Philadelphia operates against one of the strongest sets of local restrictions in the country: a 2016 executive order and a seven-bill package signed in May 2026 sharply limit how city agencies can cooperate with federal immigration enforcement, while the U.S. Department of Justice has sued to strike down part of that package and ICE has intensified arrests at the Criminal Justice Center and in the surrounding suburbs.

What Philadelphia Law Says About ICE

The foundation is a 2016 executive order signed by then-Mayor Jim Kenney. It bars city jails from honoring ICE detainers or sharing release dates with federal immigration officials. An earlier 2009 policy already prohibited city workers, including police and firefighters, from asking about immigration status in most situations or arresting people based solely on perceived status.¹

Mayor Cherelle Parker, who took office in 2024, announced in May 2025 that Philadelphia would drop the “sanctuary city” label and call itself a “welcoming city” instead, while keeping the 2016 order in force.²

In January 2026, Councilmembers Kendra Brooks and Rue Landau introduced a seven-bill “ICE Out” package to convert those executive-order protections into permanent law and add new ones.³ The full Council passed all seven bills on April 23, 2026, with a veto-proof majority.⁴ The bills, all in effect as of July 2026, together do the following:

Codify the city’s ban on participating in ICE’s 287(g) program, and prohibit city agencies and police from collaborating with federal civil immigration enforcement without a judicial warrant.⁵
Bar city agencies from collecting or sharing information about residents’ citizenship or immigration status.⁵
Add immigration and citizenship status to the Fair Practices Ordinance as protected classes, prohibiting discrimination in housing, employment, and public accommodations.⁶
Bar ICE from raids or staging operations on city-owned property, and prohibit city employees from granting ICE access to libraries, shelters, health centers, and recreation centers without a judicial warrant.⁷
Prohibit law enforcement agents from concealing their identities with face masks or unmarked vehicles and require visible display of badges, with exceptions for undercover operations, SWAT teams, and medical needs.⁵

Parker signed six of the seven bills on May 7, 2026. She declined to sign the mask and unmarked-vehicles bill on the advice of City Solicitor Renee Garcia, who said it presented “significant legal problems” over the city’s authority to regulate federal officers.⁸ Because she did not veto it, that bill became law without her signature. In a letter to Council, Parker wrote, “My commitment to immigrants and our most vulnerable is unwavering.”⁹

The DOJ Lawsuit

On June 18, 2026, the U.S. Department of Justice sued the City of Philadelphia, Mayor Parker, District Attorney Larry Krasner, and City Solicitor Garcia over the ICE Out laws.¹⁰ The complaint targets the provisions that “criminally prohibit federal officers from wearing masks, require individual identifiers, and prohibit the use of unmarked vehicles,” arguing they unconstitutionally regulate federal law enforcement.¹¹

Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said the government “will not sit by while Philadelphia flagrantly violates our Constitution, seeking to criminally punish our Nation’s law enforcement heroes merely for doing their job.”¹⁰ The city declined to comment on the pending litigation.¹² The laws remain scheduled to take effect in July 2026 unless a court orders otherwise. The lawsuit does not challenge the other six bills, which cover data-sharing, city property, and anti-discrimination protections.

Where ICE Is Operating

ICE’s Philadelphia Field Office, at 114 North 8th Street, covers Pennsylvania, Delaware, and West Virginia.¹³

Courthouse Arrests

Arrests at the Criminal Justice Center in Center City have drawn the most alarm. The nonprofit Juntos estimated more than 90 people were detained by ICE at the courthouse in 2025, a figure the group called conservative because much of the activity happens out of view.¹⁴ In September 2025, federal agents wearing DEA and U.S. Marshals vests were recorded detaining two people leaving the Stout Justice Center on Filbert Street.¹⁵

Sheriff Rochelle Bilal adopted a formal courthouse policy in January 2025. ICE agents are not permitted to arrest anyone inside courtrooms, inside the courthouse, or on courthouse grounds. To enforce a federal warrant, ICE must file it with the clerk of court at least 48 hours before the person’s hearing, and any custody transfer must happen at the county prison. Deputies are prohibited from sharing information about a person’s status with ICE.¹⁶

Suburbs

Enforcement has extended well past city limits. On February 9, 2026, ICE and Border Patrol agents conducted a raid in Lower Providence Township, Montgomery County, targeting a 26-year-old Mexican citizen who had overstayed an H-2A visa. The operation involved a vehicle pursuit and collision before agents surrounded his home on Ridge Pike.¹⁷ Local officials called the operation “brutal” and “cruel.”¹⁸

Philadelphia International Airport

In March 2026, ICE agents were sent to Philadelphia International Airport to help cover TSA staffing shortages during a partial government shutdown. Union officials said about 400 TSA workers had quit in the preceding weeks, and nearly 20% of PHL’s TSA staff called out on a single Monday. The agents guarded exit lanes and checked IDs rather than conducting immigration enforcement, and no immigration-related arrests were reported at the airport.¹⁹

The District Attorney’s Position

District Attorney Krasner has taken the sharpest public stance among city officials. At a January 2026 press conference he told federal agents, “We will arrest you. We will put handcuffs on you. We will close those cuffs. We will put you in a cell.” He added that he would “do everything in our power to convict you and we will make sure you serve your entire sentence because Donald Trump has no power whatsoever to pardon you.”²⁰ Krasner reiterated the warning at the airport during the March deployment.²¹

When the GOP-controlled House Judiciary Committee demanded his office’s records on ICE interactions since 2018, Krasner cited the Tenth Amendment and the anti-commandeering doctrine — the principle that the federal government cannot force local authorities to enforce federal law. He said his office would provide the requested documents but accused the House GOP’s “mass deportation policies” of “discriminating against U.S. citizen defendants and all victims.”²²

Suburbs and 287(g)

Philadelphia itself has never participated in ICE’s 287(g) program, which authorizes local law enforcement to perform federal immigration enforcement duties, and the ICE Out laws now codify that ban. Some agencies in the surrounding region have signed on. As of mid-2026, Pennsylvania has 78 active 287(g) agreements statewide, spanning 41 municipal police departments, 20 constables’ offices, and 17 county offices.²³

Two elected constables in the immediate Philadelphia suburbs hold active agreements: Jerome Fletcher in Lansdowne Borough, Delaware County (signed August 2025), and David Jones Sr. in Honey Brook, Chester County (signed October 2025). Neither appears to have conducted enforcement under the agreements; Fletcher has not completed the required training, and Jones said he had not heard from ICE since signing.²⁴ Bucks County’s Sheriff’s Office signed an agreement in 2025 under then-Sheriff Fred Harran but never fully implemented it; newly elected Sheriff Danny Ceisler terminated it in January 2026.¹⁸

Participating agencies can receive federal reimbursement for up to 25% of salary and benefits for each ICE-trained officer, plus quarterly performance bonuses of up to $1,000 per officer.²³ New Jersey legally prohibited local 287(g) participation as of March 2026, and Delaware did the same in July 2025.¹⁸

Federal Funding Threats

The DOJ suit is not the only pressure on the city. A February 2025 executive order directed federal agencies to withhold payments to jurisdictions that “facilitate the subsidization or promotion of illegal immigration.”²⁵ In August 2025, the DOJ published a list of sanctuary jurisdictions that named Philadelphia and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and Attorney General Pam Bondi sent letters ordering compliance.²⁶

Federal courts have so far issued injunctions blocking the administration from withholding unrelated federal funds from noncompliant jurisdictions.²⁵ During the first Trump administration, U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson permanently blocked a similar effort in 2018, ruling that the executive branch cannot impose new conditions on federal grants without congressional approval. The money at stake is substantial: Philadelphia received $2.2 billion in federal funding in the most recent fiscal year, nearly one-fifth of its total budget.²⁷

Where Detainees End Up

Many people arrested by ICE in the Philadelphia region are sent to the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Clearfield County, about 170 miles northwest of the city. Operated by GEO Group under a five-year, $264 million contract, it is the largest immigrant detention facility in the Northeast, with a capacity of nearly 1,900.²⁸

The facility held an average of 1,600 people between October 2025 and March 2026, and more than 78% of detainees lack serious criminal charges, according to data released to Congress. Three detainees have died in custody there since 2021. Detainees have reported inadequate medical and dental care, rotten food, and a lack of basic hygiene supplies, and the facility averaged 88 people in solitary confinement over the same period, the second-highest rate in the country.²⁹

Two new facilities may soon be added. In early 2026, DHS purchased a 64-acre warehouse in Berks County for $87 million and a 1.3-million-square-foot distribution center in Schuylkill County’s Tremont Township for $119.5 million, both intended for conversion into detention centers.³⁰ In March 2026, the state Department of Environmental Protection issued five administrative orders finding the warehouses lack the water and sewage infrastructure to operate as planned; state officials said the Berks County facility alone would exceed wastewater limits by 14 times.³¹

If ICE Approaches You or Someone You Know

The Defender Association of Philadelphia advises that you have the right to remain silent and the right to refuse entry to agents who do not have a judicial warrant signed by a judge — an ICE administrative warrant is not the same thing.³² HIAS Pennsylvania, at 123 South Broad Street, publishes know-your-rights materials in multiple languages and maintains a list of nonprofit legal service providers across the state.³³

The New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia runs a rapid-response hotline at 267-217-2292 and maintains a community fund for legal and emergency fees for people arrested by ICE. The group also runs “Know Your Rights” trainings at immigrant congregations in Spanish and Indonesian. Juntos serves South Philadelphia, and Asian Americans United focuses on Chinatown; the groups coordinate through overlapping networks.³⁴ Community Legal Services, the Nationalities Service Center, and the Welcoming Center for New Pennsylvanians also work with immigrants in the area.³²

If you have a court date at the Criminal Justice Center, the sheriff’s policy means ICE cannot arrest you inside or on the grounds and must give the clerk 48 hours’ notice of any federal warrant before your hearing.¹⁶ That protection does not extend to federal buildings or the sidewalks immediately outside courthouse grounds, where arrests have occurred.

1
The Conversation. The Legal Limits of Trump’s Crackdown on Sanctuary Cities Like Philadelphia
2
City & State PA. Philadelphia City Council Passes ICE Out Legislation Out of Committee
3
Philadelphia City Council. Philadelphia Elected Leaders Introduce ICE Out Legislative Package
4
WHYY. Philadelphia ICE Out Legislation Passes City Council
5
WHYY. Philadelphia ICE Out Legislation
6
NBC Philadelphia. ICE Philadelphia City Council Pennsylvania Immigration
7
Philadelphia City Council. ICE Out Legislation Passes Out of Committee With Unanimous Support
8
NBC Philadelphia. Mayor Parker Signs All ICE Out Bills Except for Mask Ban
9
Philadelphia Inquirer. Mayor Parker Signs ICE Restrictions Into Law
10
U.S. Department of Justice. Justice Department Files Complaint Challenging Philadelphia Mask Ban and Identification Requirements
11
NBC Philadelphia. Department of Justice Files Lawsuit Against Philadelphia Over ICE Out Legislation
12
WHYY. Philadelphia DOJ ICE Out Lawsuit
13
ICE. Philadelphia Field Office
14
City & State PA. ICE Operations in Philadelphia Have Immigration Advocates on High Alert
15
NBC Philadelphia. ICE Arrests Detention Philadelphia Courthouse
16
Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office. Policy Regarding Immigration and Custom Enforcement
17
NBC Philadelphia. Masked Federal Agents Surround Montgomery County Home
18
WHYY. Philadelphia ICE Agreements and 287 Suburbs
19
WHYY. Philadelphia Airport ICE Agents Government Shutdown
20
WHYY. Philadelphia ICE Agents Rochelle Bilal Larry Krasner
21
6abc. ICE Agents Arrive at Philadelphia International Airport
22
CBS News Philadelphia. Philadelphia DA Larry Krasner ICE Policies
23
Philadelphia Inquirer. Pennsylvania Police Departments Immigration Enforcement
24
NBC Philadelphia. Two Pennsylvania Law Enforcement Agencies Signed on to Help ICE
25
Penn Capital-Star. Trump Administration Vows to Come After Sanctuary States and Cities Like Philadelphia
26
U.S. Department of Justice. Justice Department Publishes List of Sanctuary Jurisdictions
27
WHYY. Trump Sanctuary Cities Philadelphia Federal Funding Budget
28
Philadelphia Inquirer. ICE Immigrant Detention Moshannon Valley Processing Center
29
Spotlight PA. ICE GEO Moshannon Valley Detention Center
30
City & State PA. Gov. Shapiro Vows to Use Every Tool to Stop ICE Facilities Coming to Pennsylvania
31
Penn Capital-Star. Pennsylvania Proposed ICE Detention Centers Will Overwhelm Existing Infrastructure
32
Defender Association of Philadelphia. Immigrant Rights
33
HIAS Pennsylvania. Know Your Rights
34
Pennsylvania Immigration and Citizenship Coalition. Rapid Response Information