Philadelphia City Council prepares for the “lived nightmares” of the new Trump administration

On January 22, Councilmember Rue Landau led a hearing of the Committee on Law and Government about Philly’s preparedness for the Trump administration. In opening remarks, Landau said Philly must unite to combat what’s coming, including attempts to outlaw trans and nonbinary identities and “shatter” immigrant families.

“These new directives are not merely headlines,” she said. “They are lived nightmares.” She added that resistance must be “tangible” in our streets, courts, legislation, policy, and our own homes.

Councilmember Jamie Gauthier called the hearing “very personal to me,” noting that her own mother immigrated to the West Philly district that Gauthier now represents. “Our immigrant community and our LGBTQ+ community deserve to know what Philadelphia will do to protect them,” she said.

Preparing for ICE raids in Philly schools

Several people testified about threats facing immigrant families in the School District and questioned whether the City and School District are ready to fully enact the 2021 Welcoming Sanctuary Schools Resolution. This policy supports Philly’s status as a “Sanctuary City” where City employees, including police, do not inquire about individuals’ immigration status and do not comply with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) requests or arrests unless there’s a judicial warrant.

A new Trump executive order rescinds a longstanding bipartisan policy of shielding “sensitive sites” like schools from immigration enforcement (unless there’s an immediate danger to the public). Philly officials now fear that ICE will raid our schools.

In her testimony, city solicitor Renee Garcia said that Philly already has strong laws against discrimination of any kind, and Dr. Jayme Banks, the chief of support services for the School District, said that it maintains a strong anti-bullying and nondiscrimination policy.

Dr. Nathalie Nérée, the district’s chief of special education and diverse learners, said the district is analyzing Trump’s executive orders and developing “clear guidelines and communications protocol for responding to ICE agents on school grounds.” According to current policy, district employees and contractors will not inquire into students’ or families’ immigration status unless required by law, and any requests from ICE agents on school grounds will be immediately referred to the district’s Office of General Counsel, which will require documentation of a subpoena or warrant relating to the school.

Students may not be aware of their own or their families’ immigration status, Nérée noted. In light of these threats, she said families should be sure to update their emergency contact and authorized pickup info with their school.

Juntos executive director Erika Guadalupe Núñez testified passionately in favor of the Sanctuary Schools policy, but argued that its implementation has been lacking. “Trump has been clear,” she said. “We need to be equally clear.” Julio Rodriguez, political director of the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition, urged City Council to fund Sanctuary Schools enforcement in its latest budget.

Standing for the Fourth Amendment

First Assistant District Attorney Bob Listenbee said that the Trump administration’s plan for mass deportations are anti-family and anti-public safety. Parents will be deported while their traumatized children enter the US foster-care system. He also explained that ICE enforcement near courthouses harms public safety by discouraging crime victims and witnesses from coming forward. He said Philly has robust protections for victims and witnesses.

PA ACLU senior staff attorney Vanessa Stein said that Philly’s “Sanctuary” label is misleading because ICE does regularly arrest and detain people in Philly. But she insisted that the Sanctuary policy is still necessary. It increases trust with immigrant communities who feel safer accessing City services, including healthcare. It saves money by putting immigration enforcement on the federal government, where it belongs. And the Sanctuary policy is grounded in the Fourth Amendment, which protects us from unlawful search and seizure. When City staffers require judicial warrants from ICE officers, they are on the right side of the Constitution. “Philly stands for the Fourth Amendment,” Stein said.

It’s not hypothetical. Two days after this City Council hearing, an ICE raid in Newark, NJ (also a “Sanctuary City”) arrested and detained a US citizen who is a military veteran and several others. The owner of the targeted business said the agents did not show a court order.

A “chilling effect” on everyone

VietLead executive director Nancy Nguyen insisted that the people ICE targets are just that: people. They are children, parents, aunts and uncles, and business owners. She said immigrants urgently need better legal representation, including those who have served their time for criminal convictions.

Reverend Josephys Dafil, the executive director of Haitian-American United for Change, reminded councilmembers of the fallout of Trump’s debate-stage lies about Haitian Americans. He urged City Council to appropriate more funding for immigrant family services and legal representation for immigrants and asylum-seekers, “so they can keep their jobs and keep paying taxes.”

Nationalities Service Center executive director Steven Larine said that immigrants make up 16 percent of Philly residents and that noncitizens make up 20 percent of employed residents. He also pointed out that immigrants make up one third of Philly’s business owners. He said he’s already hearing from clients who fear arrest just for taking their children to school.

“People need know-your-rights presentations,” he said. “We must deploy resources for people to learn and prepare to state their rights and what to do if someone is detained, and we need representation in bond hearings for detained people.” (Juntos has a free online resource in English and Spanish for learning your rights and identifying and responding to ICE raids or arrests.)

State Rep Joseph Hohenstein, who identified himself as a leader of 2017 litigation to challenge Trump’s first Muslim travel ban, emphasized the “chilling effect” of the new enforcement orders on everyone, regardless of their status. “Immigrants are essential to our economy,” he added. “The President has convinced people that immigrants are more likely to do harm than to do good, and that is simply not true.” He explained that targeting immigrants forces people into the shadows, harms the economy, and increases income inequality: “Anti-immigrant policies do not support working people. They support the rich.”

Just the beginning?

Other speakers raised concerns about reproductive and trans rights in Philly. These would both be excellent topics for further hearings, as well as healthcare access, public health, health communications, disability protections, and medical research, in light of ongoing actions by the Trump administration threatening or undermining institutions like the CDC, NIH, and the WHO, as well as the ACA and the ADA.

“This is just the beginning of the conversation with us,” Landau said. Philly residents must demand that City Council continues this work, and that our officials uphold the US Constitution.