Philadelphia Anti-ICE Bills Face Legal Scrutiny

City Council sat through seven anti-ICE bills Monday morning, and the Parker administration isn’t hiding its reservations about the package.

Councilmembers Rue Landau and Kendra Brooks wrote the legislation, which would hand District Attorney Larry Krasner authority to prosecute ICE agents caught wearing masks, and open the door for private citizens to sue agents who don’t show their badges. Broad powers. But Charlie Ellison, executive director of the Office of Immigrant Affairs, told Council that most of the seven bills carry “legally problematic” language, and city attorneys are still chewing through the latest amendments. That’s not the kind of feedback you want from an office that’s supposed to be your ally.

Landau and Brooks rolled out this package in January at a rally outside City Hall, pitching it as a direct answer to the surge in federal immigration enforcement. ICE enforcement actions have climbed sharply across the country, and Philadelphia’s sanctuary posture has made it a target more than once. Here’s the problem: a bill that can’t hold up in court doesn’t protect anyone. So Council and the mayor’s office can’t afford to drag this through months of legal back-and-forth.

Meanwhile, June is stacking up fast.

Philadelphia’s got a new Pride-season arts festival coming. Philly PrideAF runs through the full month of June with a lineup built around the queer community in Philadelphia, pulling in LGBTQ+ musicians, choirs, opera singers, drag artists, and actors. It’s aiming for a month-long cultural footprint, not a single weekend and done.

A few other things worth knowing:

Speed cameras on Route 13 in Northeast Philly went live Monday. There’s a 60-day grace window before tickets go out, which means the warning period runs through June 12. After that, fines land between $100 and $150 per violation, mailed to your address. No grace period left after June 12. Adjust now.

Uber’s fighting Mayor Parker’s proposed $1 rideshare tax, which would send money directly to the School District of Philadelphia. Uber says riders will carry the cost. Parker’s office says the district needs it. That argument’s just getting started, and neither side looks ready to blink.

Climate scientists are tagging this week’s April heat wave with a “fingerprint of climate change,” Ellison said in testimony that carried weight beyond the immigration debate. Philadelphia could snap a daily temperature record Wednesday that’s stood since 1941, and potentially match another from 2002 on Thursday. April heat records. Not a good sign.

On the state level, treasurer and Pennsylvania governor candidate Stacy Garrity is facing questions about whether she needed to register as a lobbyist. That one’s still developing.