Trump administration formally names Philly, other local jurisdictions as impeding federal immigration enforcement

Philadelphia stood among 16 Pennsylvania cities and counties named Thursday night on a Trump administration list of sanctuary jurisdictions, places to be formally notified of what the president calls their noncompliance with federal immigration law.

At potential risk are billions of dollars in aid that flow to hundreds of communities across the United States.

Montgomery, Delaware and Chester Counties were on the list. So were the cities of Pittsburgh, Gettysburg, State College, and York.

New Jersey was named as a sanctuary state. Also cited were Burlington County, Cumberland County, Camden, Trenton, and more than a dozen other Garden State localities.

The list issued by the Department of Homeland Security spans scores of jurisdictions in 30 states, all accused of “deliberately and shamefully” obstructing enforcement of federal laws and endangering American communities.

“DHS demands that these jurisdictions immediately review and revise their policies to align with federal immigration laws and renew their obligation to protect American citizens, not dangerous illegal aliens,” the department said in a statement.

Homeland Security said sanctuary jurisdictions protect undocumented immigrants from facing consequences while putting law enforcement officials in peril.

Officials in those places say that’s ridiculous. They say they direct local law enforcement officers, who are paid by local taxpayers, to protect and serve local residents ― not to help ICE do its job.

Those cities do not shelter undocumented immigrants from arrest, nor can they hinder immigration enforcement by federal agents.

“So many cities and counties have passed these policies because they uphold the Constitution, they keep families together, and they make cities safer,” said Peter Pedemonti, codirector of New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia.

Many police departments support sanctuary status, he noted, because they enable undocumented crime victims and witnesses to come forward without fear.

The administration of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has pledged to fight any Trump attempt to withdraw federal funding over city policies.

“We celebrate Mayor Parker for standing up to litigate against this threat, and we stand behind her,” Pedemonti said Thursday night.

Hundreds of jurisdictions were on the DHS list. Alaska had but one named jurisdiction, Anchorage. California had 110, plus the state itself.

New Jersey Attorney General Matthew Platkin said Thursday that the state’s sanctuary policy already has been upheld by the Third District U.S. Court of Appeals. The state’s Immigrant Trust Directive allows police officers to address violent crime and drug trafficking “while ensuring that victims and witnesses can safely come forward to report crimes regardless of their immigration status,” Platkin said.

“Our office’s number one priority is keeping New Jerseyans safe, which the directive has been doing for the past seven years,” he said.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy declined to comment.

A spokesperson for Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro said the governor “has made clear” that the state is “not a sanctuary state.”

“We continue to follow all state and federal laws, comply with court orders and coordinate with law-enforcement partners at all levels when appropriate in order to keep our communities safe,” said Manuel Bonder, the Shapiro spokesperson.

The Trump administration has repeatedly targeted so-called sanctuary communities that it says are not doing enough to help Immigration and Customs Enforcement deport millions of people.

The list was compiled using multiple factors, including whether the localities identified themselves as sanctuary jurisdictions, how much they complied with federal officials on immigration enforcement, and if they restricted the sharing of information with federal authorities.

The list includes counties represented by Republicans in Congress, some of whom have criticized local policies.

U.S. Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (R.,Pa.), who represents parts of Lehigh and Northampton Counties, both on the list, said Thursday that “sanctuary policies put the community and law enforcement in harm’s way.”

Mackenzie in February denounced the Democratic county executive’s decision not to cooperate with ICE, calling it “appalling.”

Absorbing the news that Chester County was included on the list, Democratic Commissioner Josh Maxwell had a quick answer:

“We’re not a sanctuary county because we never adopted a sanctuary county policy,” he said. “That means we never made any declaration that we wouldn’t work with ICE. We would.”

Maxwell believes the administration labeled the county “to pressure us to work with ICE to continue getting federal funds.”

So what’s the next step? “We’ll have our lawyers look into all of this,” Maxwell said.

On April 28, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that directed the U.S. Attorney General’s Office to publish a list of states and cities it believes are obstructing enforcement of immigration laws.

That marked a new step in Trump’s ongoing effort to get tough on sanctuary jurisdictions, and to punish them for what he says is their defiance. The order threatened those places with funding cuts and promised legal action, if necessary, to make them comply.

Amy Torres, executive director of the New Jersey Alliance for Immigrant Justice, noted on Thursday night that the administration recently sued four North Jersey cities over their sanctuary policies.

“Now this announcement is happening to other cities across the United States,” she said. “When New Jersey came under attack, we banded together to fight back against the absurd and arbitrary abuse of power that DHS and DOJ are hellbent on making hallmarks of this administration.”

The list also prompted some confusion.

While the Trump administration considers Delaware County to be a sanctuary jurisdiction, the county itself does not.

“Actually,” said Delaware County Council Chair Monica Taylor, “we wouldn’t even know what that definition would be.”

The list is something of a puzzle to Taylor, not knowing who compiled it or precisely what criteria were considered. The county has received no official notice of any kind from the federal government.

“We are in compliance with all federal laws,” Taylor said. “We’ll have to see into this to learn more.”

A Burlington County spokesperson said officials were surprised to see the county labeled as a sanctuary jurisdiction. “County commissioners approved no resolutions, policies, or directives related to immigration enforcement in the past six years,” said Dave Levinsky.

Philadelphia has traditionally been a leader among sanctuary cities, though immigration advocates have criticized Parker for not speaking out more forcefully.

She has affirmed that the city still operates under the 2016 executive order on ICE detainers that was enacted under her predecessor, Jim Kenney, but tends to generally focus on her own agenda.

“Right now, we remain laser-focused on doing everything in our power on a daily basis to stay focused on achieving the goal,” the mayor said after Trump announced his order, “and I promised people of our city that I wouldn’t let anyone or anything get in the way of my commitment to making Philadelphia safer, cleaner, greener with access to economic opportunity for all, because that’s what the people [of] the city of Philadelphia sent me here to do.”

In early May, City Solicitor Renee Garcia offered City Council the administration’s most articulated position on Trump’s order, saying the city was prepared to go to court if any attempt was made to halt funding.

Philadelphia received $2.2 billion in federal money in the 2024 fiscal year, with the majority going toward health and social services programs.

On Thursday night the solicitor declared, “Philadelphia is not a sanctuary city. We are a welcoming city.”

She said the city had not received any formal notification from DHS and would carefully review any communications.

Parker spokesperson Joe Grace confirmed that, despite Garcia’s statement that Philadelphia is “not a sanctuary city,” no city policies have changed under Parker, including those adopted by Kenney, that have commonly been described as supporting sanctuary.

“Immigration and the treatment of immigrants is central to the biblical narrative and the Christian faith,” the Rev. Christopher Neilson of Christianity for Living Ministry said Thursday night. “For Mayor Parker, as a woman of faith who prides herself in being led by God, now it is imperative to stand up for justice, righteousness, and the immigrant.”

City Council President Kenyatta Johnson deferred comment to the mayor.

Councilmember Rue Landau, who earlier this year held a hearing on the city’s readiness “to protect the civil rights of marginalized communities” during the second Trump administration, said the list was “Trump’s attempt to instill more fear and uncertainty among the immigrant communities.”

“Philadelphia is a welcoming city. That has been our stance,” Landau said in a statement. “Since the beginning of the budget hearings, I have been vocal in my advocacy for increased immigrant defense and this is exactly why. We have to stand up and protect our neighbors when our own President refuses.”

According to Trump’s order, the listed jurisdictions will be notified of their status and, if they maintain their sanctuary policies, could face federal funding cuts or legal action. The exact metrics for how officials determined which jurisdictions belonged on the list remain unknown.

Trump’s order said some state and local officials were using their authority to violate and defy immigration enforcement, what he called “a lawless insurrection against the supremacy of federal law and the federal government’s obligation to defend the territorial sovereignty of the United States.”

He suggested they were creating “intolerable national security risks” and potentially violating federal criminal statutes.

Trump has said for months that he was working on an order to pull federal funding from sanctuary cities, typically defined as places that limit law enforcement cooperation with federal immigration authorities.

The definition of a sanctuary city varies, so it had been unclear which cities would be targeted.

Philadelphia traditionally has been among the strongest of sanctuary cities, fighting and winning a federal lawsuit over funding, kicking ICE out of a law enforcement database, and directing city employees not to inquire about residents’ immigration status.

City officials have refused to comply with requests from ICE to detain prisoners based on their immigration status, requiring federal authorities to submit a warrant signed by a judge.

The term sanctuary is in many ways inaccurate. Undocumented immigrants receive no special protections in those jurisdictions.

The difference is those places choose not to help ICE do its work, saying local police must focus on local policing — which includes arresting and jailing undocumented immigrants accused of committing crimes.

In 2018, the city won a major victory against the first Trump administration when a federal judge ruled that Trump could not cut off grants based on the way the city deals with immigrants.

U.S. District Judge Michael Baylson ruled that Philadelphia’s policies were reasonable and appropriate, and called the use of the term sanctuary city a misnomer.

“Philadelphia is not a sanctuary for anyone involved in criminal conduct, nor is it a sanctuary as to any law-enforcement investigation, prosecution, or imprisonment after having been found guilty of a crime,” he said.

Staff writer Julia Terruso contributed to this article, which also contains information from the Associated Press.