President Trump preparing to send ICE tactical teams to Philadelphia
Philadelphia is among five Democratic-led cities that President Trump is preparing to send Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactical teams, according to CBS News, a move that precipitated the mass protests in Los Angeles.
It's unclear whether the ICE Special Response Teams will conduct raids in Philadelphia and the four other cities.
SRTs are SWAT tactical units ICE uses for operations involving high-risk targets. The teams were used during some of the immigration raids in Los Angeles that saw dozens of people taken into custody, leading to mass protests in the city and President Trump deploying both the National Guard and U.S. Marines to the southern California city, against objections from LA Mayor Karen Bass and Gov. Gavin Newsom.
In Philadelphia, 15 people were arrested during an anti-ICE protest Tuesday, which the police claimed drew 150 people. District Attorney Larry Krasner and community leaders are holding a press conference today ahead of Saturday's "No Kings Day" protest, where they plan to stress the importance of protecting "peaceful First Amendment rights while ensuring accountability for anyone — protesters or law enforcement — who commit acts of violence," according to a news release.
The news release also stated Krasner will provide an update on the arrests and charges from the protests that took place earlier this week in Philadelphia.
Is Philadelphia a sanctuary city?
Philadelphia was recently among dozens of U.S. cities and counties named on a list of sanctuary jurisdictions released by the Department of Homeland Security. The list was removed from the DHS website shortly after.
On Thursday, local faith leaders called on city leaders to do more to protect immigrants, not cooperate with ICE and declare Philadelphia a sanctuary city, not just a welcoming city.
Faith leaders criticized Mayor Cherelle Parker and her administration for recently walking back a 2016 executive order signed by former Mayor Jim Kenney, which declared the city a sanctuary city.
Kenney's order, No. 5-16, states that Philadelphia does not comply with ICE detainer requests unless they're supported by a warrant and for a person being released after a conviction for a first- or second-degree felony.
Philadelphia faith leaders say there's a critical difference because, they claim, a sanctuary city reaffirms the city's commitment to protecting everyone regardless of their immigration status, which includes preventing ICE arrests and protecting anti-ICE protesters.
Last month, City Solicitor Renee Garcia rejected using the term "sanctuary city," claiming that "welcoming city" is a more suitable term because sanctuary has a negative connotation and could impact the city's federal funding.
"Reaffirm Philadelphia's sanctuary city status boldly, publicly and proudly. Denounce ICE and their illegal tactics, hiding behind masks, oftentimes appearing without warrants," Rev. Robin Hynicka of Arch Street United Methodist Church said. "End all collaboration between Philadelphia police and ICE. Do not allow anything to stand between our city and all of God's children who preside here."
According to Garcia, the policies protect immigrants from federal law enforcement, and immigration is still in effect, though faith leaders say that is not enough.
"The laws on paper mean nothing when in practice, ICE roams free, police cooperate and protesters are brutalized," Rev. Noé Gabriel López, director of Social Impact and Belonging, said. "You cannot call a city welcoming while you shackle its people."
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
The Hill
31 minutes ago
- The Hill
US divided on Trump using military to respond to anti-ICE protests: Survey
The U.S. public is split over President Trump's decision to deploy thousands of National Guard troops and hundreds of Marines to help quell protests over his robust immigration agenda that have spread across the country, according to a recent survey. The new Reuters/Ipsos poll, which was released Thursday evening, found that nearly half of Americans — 48 percent — said they agree that the president should 'deploy the military to bring order to the streets' when the demonstrations become violent. Another 41 percent of respondents did not agree with the statement. GOP respondents are more supportive of having troops assist with containing protests, while Democrats are strongly against it, the survey found. The poll found that just over a third of respondents, 35 percent, backed the Trump administration's response to the demonstrations in Los Angeles — which were sparked by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) latest deportation raids. The administration approved the deployment of Marines and National Guard troops, arguing it was necessary to restore order as cars were being lit on fire and a federal building in downtown Los Angeles was vandalized. Around half of the respondents, 50 percent, said they did not approve of the moves, the data shows. Around 46 percent of U.S. adults said the anti-ICE protestors were out-of-step, while another 38 percent disagreed, the poll found. Trump's promise from the campaign trail to ramp up deportations of those living in the country illegally still has strong support. Over half of respondents, 52 percent, are supportive of the president's mass deportation efforts. That includes around one-in-five Democratic Party voters and around 90 percent of GOP backers, according to the survey. Nearly half of the respondents, 49 percent, said the Trump administration has gone overboard with arresting migrants, while 40 percent did not agree. The Reuters/Ipsos poll was conducted from June 11-12 among 1,136 Americans. The margin of error was 3 percentage points.
WIRED
31 minutes ago
- WIRED
The High-Flying Escalation of CBP's Predator Drone Flights Over LA
Jun 13, 2025 11:48 AM Custom and Border Protection flying powerful Predator B drones over Los Angeles further breaks the seal on federal involvement in civilian matters typically handled by state or local authorities. An MQ-9 Reaper drone with Customs and Border Protection awaits the next mission over the US-Mexico border on November 4, 2022, at Fort Huachuca, Arizona. Photograph:On Wednesday, United States Customs and Border Protection confirmed to 404 Media that it has been flying Predator drones over Los Angeles amid the LA protests. The military drones, a CBP statement said, 'are supporting our federal law enforcement partners in the Greater Los Angeles area, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with aerial support of their operations.' State-level law enforcement agencies across the US use various types of drones and other vehicles, like helicopters, to conduct aerial surveillance, and other agencies use drones in their operations as well. For example, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection 'doubled its use of drones' this year, according to the office of Governor Gavin Newsom, as part of efforts to combat forest fires. However, CBP's MQ-9 Reaper drones, also known as Predator B drones, are military-caliber UAVs used for aerial reconnaissance that can be armed. In 2020, during President Donald Trump's first administration, CBP flew a Predator drone over Minneapolis during the George Floyd protests. And, in the intervening years, researchers have tracked Department of Homeland Security Predator drones flying over various US cities with no clear explanation. In the case of LA, Trump has deployed more than 700 active-duty Marines and federalized the National Guard, sending nearly 4,000 guardsmen to California over Newsom's objections. In combination with these actions, the presence of the CBP drones paints a picture of expanding federal involvement—and potentially control—over what are typically state matters. 'Military gear has been used for domestic law enforcement for a long time, but flying military gear over LA at a time when the president has sent military units against the wishes of the governor is noteworthy," says Matthew Feeney, a longtime emerging technologies researcher and advocacy manager at the nonpartisan UK civil liberties group Big Brother Watch. 'If the federal government portrays immigration as a national security issue, we shouldn't be surprised if it openly uses the tools of national security—i.e., military hardware—in response.' Carrying powerful cameras and other sensors, Predator drones can record clear, detailed footage of events like protests from high altitudes. CBP's 'Air and Marine Operations (AMO) is providing aerial support to federal law enforcement partners conducting operations in the Greater Los Angeles area,' CBP told WIRED in a statement responding to questions about whether the operation over LA is routine or anomalous. 'AMO's efforts are focused on situational awareness and officer safety support as requested.' Patrick Eddington, a senior fellow in homeland security and civil liberties at the Cato Institute, warns that 'the more the protests spread to other cities, the more of that kind of surveillance we'll see.' CBP told 404 Media this week that 'AMO is not engaged in the surveillance of first amendment activities.' That statement aligns with a commitment the US Department of Homeland Security made in December 2015. 'Unmanned aircraft system-recorded data should not be collected, disseminated or retained solely for the purpose of monitoring activities protected by the US Constitution, such as the First Amendment's protections of religion, speech, press, assembly, and redress of grievances (e.g., protests, demonstrations),' a DHS 'Privacy, Civil Rights & Civil Liberties Unmanned Aircraft Systems Working Group' wrote at the time. In practice, though, it is unclear how the Predator surveillance could 'support' ICE agents and other federal law enforcement without monitoring the protests and capturing images of protesters. While researchers note that the use of Predator drones over LA is not unprecedented—and, at this point, perhaps not surprising—they emphasize that this pattern of activity over time only makes it more likely that the federal government will deploy such monitoring in the future, regardless of how a state is handling a situation. 'It's not new or even all that unexpected from a spooked Trump administration, but it's still a terrible use of military technology on civilian populations,' says UAV researcher Faine Greenwood. 'It's basically continuing a worrying trend, but also people should be angry about it and refuse to normalize it.'
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
U.S. files suit against New York State over courthouse arrest law
June 13 (UPI) -- The federal government has filed a suit against the state of New York over a law that has kept ICE enforcement out of its state courthouses. The Department of Justice has named New York Gov. Kathleen Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James as the defendants in the lawsuit filed Thursday with the U.S. District Court in the Northern District of New York that seeks to have New York's "Protect Our Courts Act" ruled unlawful. The act, signed into law in December of 2020, provides a "privilege against civil arrest" for anyone traveling to or from, or involved in court proceedings, whether that be for themselves or in support for family or household members when they need to appear in court. The law further states that only judicially signed orders or warrants can be executed in court buildings, and such warrants must also be reviewed by the court, which then determines where and when a warrant can be executed, and how it may be implemented. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a press release Thursday that New York is "employing sanctuary city policies to prevent illegal aliens from apprehension." She added that the suit "underscores the Department of Justice's commitment to keeping Americans safe and aggressively enforcing the law." Chair of the New York State Senate Judiciary Committee Sen. Brad Hoylman-Sigal responded to the legal action with astatement Thursday in which he called the lawsuit "baseless and frivolous, and "part and parcel of the Trump administration's ongoing assault on the rule of law in New York." Hoylman-Sigal also insisted that the Protect our Courts Act is "well within the established purview of state law," and doesn't apply to federal or immigration courts, and permits Immigration and Customs Enforcement to make arrests with valid judicial warrants. "At a time when masked ICE officials are roaming the state and lawlessly detaining New Yorkers without any due process, the law preserves access to justice and participation in the judicial process," Hoylman-Sigal said. Hel was one of two New York legislators who wrote a letter to state Attorney General James in March when someone was allegedly detained by federal law enforcement while inside a state courthouse. Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate also said in the Justice Department press release that the act allows New York to obstruct "federal law enforcement and facilitates the evasion of federal law by dangerous criminals, notwithstanding federal agents' statutory mandate to detain and remove illegal aliens."
