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District Attorney Larry Krasner could prosecute ICE agents — and anybody could sue them — for wearing masks on the job or refusing to produce their badges, under a bill City Council debated Monday.
The measure is one of a raft of new restrictions and rules related to immigration enforcement that lawmakers appear poised to approve as part of the seven-bill “ICE Out” legislative package.
Councilmember Rue Landau, who introduced several of the bills, said they will help protect democratic rights and defend the city’s large immigrant population from victimization by a federal government bent on detaining and deporting residents who are undocumented or who have shaky immigration statuses.
Her comments drew applause and cheers from residents and activists who packed the council chambers during a hearing Monday morning.
“This legislation draws a clear line. Philadelphia will not be complicit with policies that undermine the safety and dignity of our neighbors,” Landau said. “Philadelphia will not use our resources to destabilize communities. Philadelphia will not turn its back on the very people who make this city.”
Krasner has frequently said he will prosecute U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents and other federal officers who violate local laws, although he has never done so.
“Wholehearted support” — for one bill
Mayor Cherelle Parker has generally declined to discuss ICE-related issues. Asked in January if she was making a strategic decision not to pick a fight with the feds, she said, “You look could look at it…like that.”
Councilmember Kendra Brooks, who spearheaded the ICE Out package along with Landau, pushed back on the administration’s stance.
“I reject the notion that if we somehow stay silent, we will remain in the good graces of the Trump administration. Furthermore, if we are more worried about poking the bear than protecting our own, we are letting our city be bullied, and that’s unacceptable in the city as gritty as ours,” Brooks said during the hearing.
Parker has not said if she would sign the bills, allow them to become law without her signature, or veto them. However, they all are supported by veto-proof majorities of the 17-member council, and the administration appeared to signal on Monday that it would not try to block the bills.
“We understand and appreciate the intent behind this legislation,” said Charlie Ellison, executive director of the Office of Immigrant Affairs.
He laid out the city’s activities to support immigrants, and said Parker would take more “proactive actions” to further the intent of some of the measures.
Ellison said the administration “wholeheartedly supports” one of the bills, which updates the city’s Fair Practices Ordinance to create a new protected class based on immigration or citizenship status. But he said that six of the seven proposals contained “legally problematic” language, including the mask ban, and said city lawyers were still reviewing the latest amendments to their language.
“Notably,” the anti-masking bill “applies to all officers at the local, state and federal levels, and similar bills are in litigation in other states,” he said.
The bill has exemptions for SWAT teams, medical masks and certain other uses. Driving an unmarked vehicle could also lead to prosecution.
A final vote on the bills could take place on April 23, according to Landau’s office. Parker would then have 10 days to take action on them. They would go into effect 60 days after becoming law.
No masking, no collaboration, no collecting info
The bills would:
• Prohibit ICE agents and all other law enforcement officers from wearing masks or using unmarked vehicles, and require them to display badges, with exceptions for undercover work, SWAT teams and medical purposes.
• Codify the city’s longstanding commitment to not participate in collaboration agreements with ICE under its 287(g) program. Under such agreements, police officers pull aside jailed people who are wanted for immigration violations and hold them to be picked up for detainment and possible deportation. The city already does not participate under long-standing executive orders from the mayor’s office.
• Prohibit city agencies, including police, from collaborating with ICE and other federal civil immigration enforcement agents absent a judicial warrant.
• Prohibit city agencies from collecting information on people’s citizenship or immigration status and sharing that information or other personal data with ICE.
• Prohibit discrimination based on citizenship or immigration status by city agencies, employers, housing providers or businesses.
• Bar ICE from conducting raids on city-owned properties.
• Ban ICE access, absent a judicial warrant, to city-owned spaces, including libraries, health centers, shelters and rec centers.
