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Immigration activists protest ICE arrests at Philly courthouse

Michelle Myers and Emily Bloch, The Philadelphia Inquirer on

Published in News & Features

PHILADELPHIA — Crowds stood outside the Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice chanting “say it loud, say it clear, immigrants are welcome here.”

The Friday morning rally organized by Juntos follows a string of Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainments outside courthouses, including one at the Philadelphia justice center earlier this week, raising concerns among the community.

In a video posted by Juntos of the Wednesday incident, an ICE agent can be seen pinning a man to the ground as a woman screams, worried the man couldn’t breathe.

Abby English said she felt compelled to attend the rally after seeing the video on social media.

“Philadelphia is supposed to be a sanctuary city,” she said, calling law enforcement’s actions “outrageous.” She wants to see local government do more to protect immigrant community members.

Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration has favored the term “welcoming city” over “sanctuary city," sparking criticism among immigrant advocates who have called on her to mount a loud and aggressive defense.

“Our local government has not strongly denounced the actions of the federal government,” English said.

ICE agents’ presence in Philadelphia courthouses has raised questions among advocacy groups about the future of the city’s so-called sanctuary city policies and rattled community members. The agency’s actions throughout the Philly region follow the inclusion of the city and some suburban counties on a list by President Donald Trump‘s administration of “sanctuary jurisdictions” nationwide that could miss out on federal funding for their refusal to enforce federal immigration laws.

For Erika Guadalupe, arrests outside courthouses are “disgusting and disappointing.”

As Juntos’ executive director, Guadalupe is against what she calls “the good immigrant vs. bad immigrant” rhetoric of Trump’s administration.

Juntos has been working on locating the man featured in Wednesday’s video, but so far the search has not yielded results.

“He had a DUI charge, it was a first-time offense,” Guadalupe said, adding that the charge was not an excuse for the force ICE agents used.

 

“Someone having a criminal charge is not enough for them to disappear from the community,” Guadalupe said. Friday’s rally was framed as a way to show both the federal and local government that ICE is not welcome in Philadelphia, particularly in courthouses, Guadalupe said.

“If we allow people to be marked as disposable, it really can be all of us,” she said.

Marion Leary, 47, would usually be at work at a local college. Weeks of seeing social media videos of people being detained by ICE brought her to the rally instead.

“It doesn’t matter if you were born here or not, when one community is under attack, we are all under attack,” Leary said.

The college worker mother is a first-generation Italian American. She questioned why the city wasn’t doing more to protect its immigrants.

“What is happening right now is not OK,” she said.

Nationwide, polls show softening public support for Trump’s immigration policies as his administration has ramped up arrests and increased ICE’s budget.

In June, a national Quinnipiac University poll of registered voters showed 54% disapproved of the president’s handling of immigration issues, with 43% approving. And 56% disapproved of his handling of deportations, with 40% approving. Other polls also show a slipping approval rating, citing immigration policies.

The emotional load has been taxing on Lenore Ramos, 24, who works directly with people detained at immigration facilities.

As a Juntos community defense organizer, Ramos said she’s received reports from detained immigrants suffering from mistreatment ranging from inadequate medical care to racist and derogatory comments.

“The conditions are horrid,” Ramos said of the detainment facilities.


©2025 The Philadelphia Inquirer, LLC. Visit at inquirer.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

 

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