HARRISBURG — Philadelphia is home to more than 200,000 people who weren’t born U.S. citizens.

About half of those people have gone through the naturalization process, according to census info, while the other half have not. A quarter of Philly’s immigrants — around 50,000 people — are believed to be undocumented.

Local leaders like Mayor Jim Kenney have loudly and proudly declared Philadelphia to be a “welcoming city” to immigrants, which in practice means police don’t ask about immigration status and the prison system doesn’t honor detainers (or hold requests) from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The city, however, will hold someone for ICE if there’s a criminal warrant issued by a judge.

Philadelphia scored a victory against the Trump administration recently when a judge ruled the feds can’t withhold money for law enforcement because of the city’s immigration policies. Kenney was so happy he danced.

But there are still efforts in Harrisburg to punish municipalities like Philadelphia for these policies — efforts that are sometimes led and supported by the city’s own representatives.

Perhaps the most prominent local opponent is Northeast state Rep. Martina White, who is again leading the charge on a bill to force municipalities like Philadelphia to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

House Bill 28 states:

The governing body of a municipality may not adopt an ordinance, regulation or plan or take any other action that limits or prohibits a public official, employee or law enforcement officer of the municipality from communicating or cooperating with an appropriate public official, employee or law enforcement officer of the Federal government concerning the immigration status of an individual in this Commonwealth.

The Republican’s bill would also make these municipalities liable for damages caused by undocumented people who are released by local police — despite an ICE detainer request — then convicted of a crime.

“We expect a vote on HB 28 soon,” a White staffer said by email this week, “but with the upcoming budget debate we have no set date.”

White introduced similar legislation during the 2015-16 session that got votes in both chambers, but did not make it to the governor’s desk before the session ended.

Of the Philly state senators in office at the time of the vote, only Democrat John Sabatina Jr. voted in favor of the legislation. In a press release explaining his stance on another immigration bill, Sabatina Jr. said he does “not believe that the ‘sanctuary city’ designation keeps citizens safe.”

In the House, he was joined in his Yea vote by Philly’s Republicans as well as Democrats Ed Neilson and Michael Driscoll, who both ran unopposed in the most recent primary.

To get a broad sense of where Philadelphia’s legislators in Harrisburg stand on immigration, Billy Penn looked at their votes and sponsorships on a handful of related legislation.

PA House

This map shows the representative voted on White’s House Bill 1885, which would punish “sanctuary municipalities” when undocumented persons are convicted of certain crimes and compel these areas to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.

Pretty stark divide. Check the details by clicking on the different districts, or in the chart below, which also includes whether the representative co-sponsored:

  • HB 28, which is essentially a reintroduction of HB 1885.
  • State Rep. Chris Rabb’s HB 1604, which would limit local law enforcement cooperation with immigration enforcement agencies.
  • State Rep. Angel Cruz’s House Resolution 491, which decried the Trump administration’s decision to end DACA.
RepresentativeDistrictPartyVote to punish sanctuary municipalitiesCo-sponsor bill to punish sanctuary municipalities?Co-sponsor bill limiting local cooperation with ICE?
Supported resolution condemning Trump’s end of DACA?
Thomas MurtDistrict 152RepublicanYea
Martina WhiteDistrict 170RepublicanYeaIntroduced
Kevin J. BoyleDistrict 172DemocratNo vote recorded
Michael DriscollDistrict 173DemocratYea
Ed NeilsonDistrict 174DemocratYea
Michael O’BrienDistrict 175DemocratNay
John TaylorDistrict 177RepublicanYeaYes
Jason DawkinsDistrict 179DemocratNay
Angel CruzDistrict 180DemocratNayYesIntroduced
W. Curtis ThomasDistrict 181DemocratNayYes
Brian SimsDistrict 182DemocratNay
William KellerDistrict 184DemocratNay
Maria DonatucciDistrict 185DemocratNayYesYes
Jordan HarrisDistrict 186DemocratNayYes
James R. Roebuck Jr.District 188DemocratNayYesYes
Vanessa Lowery BrownDistrict 190DemocratNayYesYes
Joanna McClintonDistrict 191DemocratNayYes
Morgan CephasDistrict 192DemocratNot in office
Pamela DeLissioDistrict 194DemocratNay
Donna BullockDistrict 195DemocratNay
Emilio A. VazquezDistrict 197DemocratNot in officeYesYes
Rosita YoungbloodDistrict 198DemocratNayYesYes
Chris RabbDistrict 200DemocratNot in officeIntroduced
Stephen KinseyDistrict 201DemocratNayYes
Jared SolomonDistrict 202DemocratNot in officeYes
Isabella FitzgeraldDistrict 203DemocratNot in officeYes

PA Senate

Here’s the map for the state senate, showing how senators voted on White’s bill to punish “sanctuary municipalities.”

Details below, along with notes on:

  • How the senator voted on state Sen. Guy Reschenthaler’s SB 10, which would prevent municipalities from adopting sanctuary policies regarding immigrants.
  • If the senator co-sponsored state Sen. John C. Rafferty Jr.’s SB 273, which would withhold state funding from so-called sanctuary campuses.
SenatorDistrictPartyVote on bill to punish sanctuary municipalitiesVote on bill to prevent sanctuary city designations
Co-sponsor bill to withhold funding from sanctuary campuses?
Lawrence M. Farnese Jr.District 1DemocratNayNayNo
Christine M. TartaglioneDistrict 2DemocratNo vote recordedNo vote recordedNo
Sharif StreetDistrict 3DemocratNot in officeNayNo
Art HaywoodDistrict 4DemocratNayNayNo
John P. Sabatina Jr.District 5DemocratYeaNayNo
Vincent J. HughesDistrict 7DemocratNayNayNo
Anthony H. WilliamsDistrict 8DemocratNayNayNo

Sarah Anne Hughes is based in Harrisburg for The Incline and Billy Penn as the sites’ first-ever state capitol reporter and is a 2018 corps member for Report for America, a new initiative that seeks...