In the face of increased ICE detentions and deportations, dozens of legislators, advocates, and community leaders gathered on the steps of Pennsylvania’s Capitol to demand that the General Assembly and the Commonwealth act swiftly to protect the safety of Pennsylvania’s residents and communities.
HARRISBURG, PA − June 9, 2026 − Today, Pennsylvania state senators joined dozens of advocates and community leaders from across the Commonwealth in a united call for ICE Out of Pennsylvania with a suite of bills to protect the safety of Pennsylvania’s communities and uphold the rights of its people.
“Generation after generation, people have arrived in Pennsylvania with the same aspirations: to build a future, to contribute to their community, and to create a better life for their loved ones. The opportunity to do so is one of our country’s greatest strengths,” said State Senator Nikil Saval (D–Philadelphia County), who chairs the Senate’s Welcoming Caucus, Philadelphia Delegation, and Urban Affairs and Housing Committee. “Trump’s reign of terror is expensive, unpopular, and at cross-purposes with a Pennsylvania in which everyone can thrive. Public resources should be invested in schools, healthcare, housing, and vibrant, accessible neighborhoods—not in expanding a deportation machine that tears families apart and undermines trust in our public institutions. This is why we’re demanding ICE out of Pennsylvania.”
“It is never the job nor the jurisdiction of local government to enforce federal immigration law. And in a time when immigration agents are violating people’s rights, assaulting our neighbors, and killing in cold blood, it’s our moral duty to prohibit collaboration with ICE,” said Jasmine Rivera, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition. “The Commonwealth should not spend a single second or a single dime of our state tax dollars assisting ICE, especially when a record-shattering $170 billion has been allocated to immigration enforcement, detention, and deportations. What communities actually need is affordable education, healthcare, and housing. Let’s invest in that.”
Included in the ICE Out of Pennsylvania legislative initiative are bills to ensure that sensitive community spaces like schools, hospitals, and polling locations are protected from ICE; that law enforcement activity is focused on community safety and that officers are accountable to those they serve; that opportunities for members of Pennsylvania’s immigrant communities are expanded; and that when the rights of any Pennsylvanian are violated, they have a means for recourse through our justice system.
Senator Lindsey Williams (D–Allegheny County) is a prime sponsor of the Protecting Our Vote Act, a bill to prevent voter harassment and intimidation by ICE at voting locations.
“Voting is the cornerstone of our democracy, and your vote is incredibly powerful. If it weren’t powerful, Trump and Republicans in the federal government wouldn’t be working so hard to take it away from millions of Americans,” said Senator Williams. “But the federal government doesn’t administer elections. The state does. The federal government may try to enforce their will on Pennsylvania, but we have the final say on keeping voters safe, running smooth elections, and making sure every vote counts.”
The launch of ICE Out of Pennsylvania comes as Congress is poised to approve an additional $70 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol, funding the Trump administration’s targeted attacks on immigrant communities for the next three years. Already, the Trump administration funded ICE with a budget larger than any other federal law enforcement agency and most of the world’s militaries.
“Upper Darby is one of Pennsylvania’s most diverse communities—a place where a quarter of residents are foreign-born and more than 100 languages are spoken,” said State Senator Tim Kearney (D–Delaware County). “But for over a year, our immigrant neighbors in Upper Darby and across my district have lived under the constant threat of indiscriminate ICE roundups. No community in our Commonwealth should be forced to live in fear, and our legislation draws a bright line to protect residents and restore trust.”
The number of Pennsylvanians detained by ICE last year was more than three times that of the year before. Statewide and local advocacy organizations have been on the front lines in responding to attacks on communities, families, and individual people.
“We run one of the key hotlines in the City of Philadelphia for residents to call in reports of ICE activity or abuses,” said Erika Guadalupe Nuñez, Executive Director of Juntos. “Reports describe a wide range of tactics—from kidnapping people in broad daylight, to hiding in unmarked vehicles and plainclothes, to lying, threatening, or harming fellow residents of our state to facilitate state-sanctioned abductions. One caller reported armed ICE agents at her family’s door, attempting to detain her father. They did not show a valid warrant, and ultimately threatened to break down their front door and take the entire family if the father did not come out. Like any other father here, he offered himself up and was detained. This is not an isolated incident. This is the predictable outcome of a system that operates without regard for constitutional rights, without transparency or basic regard for human life.”
“We support more than 50 people from our communities currently in ICE detention. Many followed every rule, every instruction—they complied and were detained anyway. We know ICE is lying and weaponizing propaganda to trick the general public into giving up our needed resources for corporate power and federal overreach,” said Elena Emelchin Brunner, Immigration Justice Organizer for Asian Americans United. “No one deserves this, and this is not liberty. We are currently caging our most vulnerable neighbors to feed a billion-dollar detention industry built on disposability and surveillance, using our public tax dollars that could be used for schools, healthcare, and local infrastructure. We need protections not only for our families today, but for the future of everyone’s families as well.”
Nearly 8% of Pennsylvania residents were born in another country, moving to the Commonwealth in search of a chance to build a better life and future. The actions and rhetoric of the Trump administration have made people fearful of participating in their communities and civic life.
“Since March 2025, more than seventy of my community members have been deported to Bhutan. Within 24 hours of their deportation, the government of Bhutan is expelling them to India and Nepal. Today, these deportees are statelessness again. Some are missing, some are hiding, and some have died due to suicide,” said Robin Gurung, a board member of API PA and Co-Executive Director of Asian Refugees United. “As a refugee, I have seen the worst, and I have also seen the best. I have seen people coming together, across the aisle, with love, care, and compassion for refugees and immigrants. We cannot let ICE divide us. We cannot let ICE question our humanity. We cannot let ICE terrorize our schools, hospitals, and our neighbors.”
“Migration is not just a political issue; it is a human reality that reminds us that we all, no matter where we were born, share the same desire to live better,” said Dahiana Espinal, a Lehigh Valley resident and Make the Road Pennsylvania member leader. “I am a U.S. citizen and often think of how far our country still needs to go in order to provide dignity and respect to everyone. Pennsylvania can start today by upholding the safety of its communities and the rights of its people.”
ICE is deeply unpopular. Recent polling found that two-thirds of people in the United States believe the agency’s actions have gone too far and that agents lack clear accountability. A poll last summer found that 8 in 10 Americans believe immigration is good for our country—a record-high level of support in a 25-year trend.
“I have spent more than 35 years representing immigrants. What ICE is doing under this administration is not legitimate enforcement,” said State Representative Joe Hohenstein (D–Philadelphia County). “It is a betrayal of our basic American principles of due process of law. We are the birthplace of modern democracy and freedom. It’s time we started living up to our legacy instead of tarnishing it.”
“Every person deserves to feel safety and belonging wherever they choose to live. The Trump administration’s deliberate and violent deployment of ICE agents—whose sole goal is to take those rights away from our immigrant communities—is despicable, and why this united coalition of lawmakers is vital in the fight to protect our neighbors,” said Senator Amanda M. Cappelletti (D–Delaware and Montgomery Counties). “Republicans in Washington think ICE belongs in Pennsylvania. They are sorely mistaken. Our united front not only sends our message loud and clear, but shows just how important our work is for the communities we represent in every corner of the Commonwealth.”
ICE Out of Pennsylvania reflects years of immigrant community organizing and leadership. Proponents are committed to opposing the use of state dollars to harm residents and to harnessing the Commonwealth’s power to expand protections and opportunities for all Pennsylvanians.
Bills included within the ICE Out of Pennsylvania suite seek to advance community protections on three fronts.
Bills to protect community spaces include:
- Keep ICE Off Pennsylvania’s Property (SB1193)
- Protecting Our Vote (SB1357)
- Welcoming Schools: Ensuring PA Schools Are Safe Places for All Students (SB1125)
- Welcoming Campuses: Protecting Students at Higher Education Institutions (bill number forthcoming)
Bills to strengthen restrictions on ICE tactics and limit local collaboration include:
- No Secret Police (SB1071)
- Limiting Local Entanglements with ICE (SB1139)
Bills to create avenues for justice and pathways for opportunity include:
- Remedies for Federal Abuses of Power (SB1336)
- Office of New Pennsylvanians (SB24)
Prime sponsors of the legislation in the Pennsylvania Senate include the following members:
- Senator Amanda Cappelletti (SD17–Delaware and Montgomery Counties)
- Senator Carolyn Comitta (SD19–Chester)
- Senator Art Haywood (SD4–Montgomery and Philadelphia Counties)
- Senator Tim Kearney (SD26–Delaware County)
- Senator Katie Muth (SD44–Berks, Chester, and Montgomery Counties)
- Senator Nikil Saval (SD1–Philadelphia County)
- Senator Sharif Street (SD3–Philadelphia County)
- Senator Lindsey Williams (SD38–Allegheny County)
Video from today’s livestream of the event is available here.
