Anti-ICE protesters demand better protection for immigrants at Philly courthouse

Immigration advocates continue to make their voices heard in and around Philadelphia, this time calling on local officials – including Sheriff Rochelle Bilal – to offer more transparency around their operations and any potential cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. 

“We are here today to stand up for our friends, our neighbors, our community members and everyone who is being targeted by ICE,” said Ash Harper, an 18-year-old who helped organize the demonstration. “ICE is kidnapping people by taking advantage of immigrants who are simply abiding by the law and coming to court.”

Dozens of protestors joined No ICE Philly, the local coalition that organized the demonstration, at the Criminal Justice Center in Philadelphia to call on the Sheriff’s Office to provide courthouse safety for all. Arguing the courthouse has become a “hunting ground” for immigrants, advocates said they want anyone assisting ICE operations in the city to be held accountable. 

“Our families should be able to send their children to school, seek medical care, go to church and rightfully receive due process without the fear of violence, inadequate resources or failing infrastructure,” Lenore Ramos Juarez, the defense organizer of the nonprofit organization Juntos, said Thursday. “Let’s remind our city and the institutions that are supposed to exist to protect us that being a welcoming city is not just a phrase. It’s a promise, a responsibility and a call to action.”

ICE raids throughout the nation have put immigrant populations and their advocates on high alert, with advocates from Juntos – a community-led, Latino immigrant organization – saying that more than 90 individuals have been detained by ICE at the Center City courthouse in 2025 alone. 

Juarez said Juntos has been tracking first-person accounts of ICE operations in the city, and that the 90-plus individuals mentioned are a conservative estimate given the number of stops that take place beyond the eyes of advocates at the courthouse. 

“What this number doesn’t include is the over 90 concerned families and loved ones of the more than 90 people seeking due process who instead ended up in a for-profit cage,” Juarez said during Thursday’s demonstration. “Being a welcoming city is more than ending collaboration between local law enforcement and ICE. Being a welcoming city is fighting back against the insidious ways that ICE traps and targets our people, like violently pinning our community members to the ground outside this courthouse, or doing multi-day stakeouts outside the homes of our families waiting for them to come outside.”

Last week, Bilal addressed the issue, stating that her office doesn’t work with ICE and is following the law. 

“Let me be very clear: The Philadelphia Sheriff’s Office does not partner with ICE,” Bilal said in a statement. “Our deputies do not assist ICE, share information, or participate in immigration enforcement. Our responsibility is to maintain safety and security inside the courthouses for everyone.”

Bilal said that when ICE agents enter a courthouse, they’re required to verify their credentials and ensure courthouse procedures are followed – and that arrests are not permitted inside courtrooms and the courthouse. 

“Inside the courthouse, everyone’s rights and safety are protected equally under the law,” Bilal added, noting that her office has no legal authority to intervene in lawful activities conducted on public grounds. “We are law enforcement professionals who follow the law and do not violate it, and we ask everyone to do the same for their safety.”

Protests and pushback against federal immigration operations in the city aren’t new. After the Trump administration took office in January, Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner joined lawmakers and immigration advocates in decrying both the illegality and immorality of recent federal actions. 

“We all accept and recognize that ICE is going to do what it is legally and constitutionally entitled to do. As a law enforcement officer, we would not interfere with that,” Krasner said in January. “But let me tell you what it’s not entitled to do: It’s not entitled to start punching people for fun. It’s not entitled to engage in criminal acts at the same time it’s engaging in legal acts … An ICE agent can be prosecuted in the city of Philadelphia for doing criminal things that go beyond their rights – and the law is crystal-clear.”

And in August, Democratic legislators introduced “No Secret Police” legislation that seeks to unmask and identify ICE officers in Philadelphia. 

No ICE organizers are planning a Dec. 4 rally slated for the same spot, where they hope to meet with Sheriff Bilal.