Dozens rally, call for Mayor Cherelle Parker to reaffirm Philly’s sanctuary city protections

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Immigrant rights advocates marched through Philadelphia on Tuesday, asking Mayor Cherelle Parker and city officials to resist President-elect Donald Trump’s mass deportation plans. They also demanded officials to strengthen and expand Philadelphia’s sanctuary city protections.

“Today we are here as Juntos, and with a coalition of organizations, asking the city, and particularly Mayor Cherelle Parker, to take a clear public stance around defending sanctuary city status in Philadelphia,” Erika Guadalupe Núñez, executive director of Juntos, the immigrants rights organization that organized the event.

Philadelphia has been a sanctuary city since 2016. Parker has said that designation, which prohibits local police collaboration with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, remains in place.

But when asked about the city’s sanctuary protections in November, Parker told the press, “I don’t know what will happen in the future,” and said that her administration is “prepared to address issues that will come before us.”

For Núñez and other immigrant rights advocates, Parker’s response so far is not enough.

“We want her to publicly declare that she will stand by sanctuary and defend against the enforcement actions of Trump,” she said. “[At] the same time, we want to name that sanctuary is a lot more than just ending collaboration between ICE and police, if not also making sure our schools are sanctuary schools, that there is no arena in Chinatown, and that our community members don’t have to fear rampant enforcement, such as ICE courthouse pickups like we saw in the last year.”

City Councilmember Rue Landau spoke to the crowd, affirming her support for the city’s undocumented immigrant community.

“Today, we come together not just to protect the policy, but to defend a principle,” she said. “The principle that our city will not be a place of fear, but a place of safety. Sanctuary is a word that holds more weight now than it has ever.”

In November, Landau introduced a resolution to authorize hearings to examine the city’s “commitment to protecting immigrant, LGBTQ plus and other marginalized communities and our collective civil rights in the face of the coming Trump administration.”

“I will do everything in my power to ensure that public resources will never be used to support federal deportation efforts, track and target people based on their national origin or ethnicity, or enforce discriminatory laws,” she told the crowd.

Advocates also called for expanded sanctuary policies in the School District of Philadelphia and an end to ICE detention centers in Pennsylvania.

Juntos and other organizations, including Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition, Asian Americans United, VietLead and New Sanctuary Movement, led the march to Philadelphia’s ICE immigration office at 8th and Cherry streets, where they held a vigil for immigrants detained and deported by the agency.

There, speakers also called for Seyrerath “One” Van’s release. Van is currently being held at Moshannon Valley Processing Center after ICE detained him in August. He called in to the protest to speak to the crowd.

“No somos números, somos humanos,” chanted the crowd outside of the office. “We’re not numbers, we’re human beings.”

Immigrant rights organizations throughout the region have begun preparing for the incoming Trump administration and the impact it will have on both documented and undocumented immigrants.

On Sunday, Trump suggested in an interview that children of undocumented immigrants could be deported even if they are United States citizens, and reiterated his plan to end birthright citizenship.

Peter Pedemonti, co-director of New Sanctuary Movement, said in addition to participating in events like Tuesday’s rallies, organizers are working with immigrant communities to educate people on their rights and prepare for what they can do if they are detained.

“There are a lot of people who are ready to show up and push back on this,” he said. “It’s a scary time, but it’s also a time where we can claim the power we do have and the strength we do have.”