Philadelphia’s Office of Immigrant Affairs executive director resigns as Trump takes office

Amy Eusebio will leave her position Friday after serving in the executive director role since 2019.

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Amy Eusebio speaks

Amy Eusebio, former executive director of the mayor’s Office of Immigrant Affairs, speaks at the fourth annual Philadelphia Palestine Day. (Carmen Russell-Sluchansky/WHYY)

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Philadelphia’s executive director of the Office of Immigrant Affairs has resigned in the wake of sweeping actions taken by President Donald Trump during his first days in office.

Amy Eusebio will leave her position effective Friday after serving in the executive director role since 2019. Eusebio joined city government as the Municipal ID program director and has more than 15 years of nonprofit work.

“As a black Latina, daughter of Dominican immigrants, leading the launch of the PHL City ID program and leading the Philadelphia Office of Immigrant Affairs for the last five years has been an incredible honor,” Eusebio said in a release. “I am grateful to the mayor for appointing me to this role, and the many local, state and national partners I’ve had the pleasure of working with to advance immigrant inclusion and visibility since 2019.”

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“I thank Amy for her service to our City and especially for her service to the immigrant community,” Mayor Cherelle Parker said. “Amy has worked diligently to make sure Philadelphia is a welcoming place to people from all walks of life.”

On Trump’s first day in office, he signed executive orders targeting immigration, including ending automatic citizenship to children born in the United States to parents who don’t have legal status.

The Trump administration argues in the order that the 14th Amendment “has never been interpreted to extend citizenship universally to everyone born within the United States.”

The Trump administration has also moved to strip schools and churches from immigration enforcement protections, allowing for authorities to enter those facilities to conduct arrests. The switch-up removes guidance from the Biden administration that created “protected areas” that primarily consisted of places where “children gather, disaster or emergency relief sites, and social services establishments.”

On Wednesday, Congress passed the Laken Riley Act, which would make it easier for federal immigration officials to detain and deport those without legal status who are charged with crimes ranging from minor theft to assault on law enforcement.

Acting U.S. Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove has threatened state and local officials with prosecution if they do not cooperate with stepped-up immigration enforcement.

According to the Office of Homeland Security, roughly 11 million unauthorized immigrants were living in the United States as of January 2022, down from 11.6 million in 2010 and up from 10.5 million in January 2020.

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