Four people arrested during contentious immigration protest outside Philly ICE office
Protesters sought to block the agency’s vehicles from leaving. Those detained were cited and released.
A protest outside the Philadelphia ICE office erupted into physical confrontations with police on Thursday, as several people were pushed to the ground and four were taken into custody.
A series of push-and-shove skirmishes broke out after about 35 protesters who had gathered for a Halloween Eve demonstration attempted to stop Immigration and Customs Enforcement vehicles from leaving the ICE facility at Eighth and Cherry Streets in Center City.
“ICE Block!” an organizer shouted, and about a dozen people poured onto Cherry Street to try to block the road and prevent agency vehicles from leaving. A series of scrums grew increasingly intense, with police shoving protesters back and in some cases to the ground.
Philadelphia police said four demonstrators were arrested and later released after being given citations for obstruction of highway, a violation that typically results in a fine.
The Department of Homeland Security, ICE, and Philadelphia police presence was substantial, with more than 30 officers outside the immigration agency’s big metal garage doors. A dozen DHS vehicles lined the south side of Cherry Street, across from demonstrators on the north.
Members of the activist group No ICE Philly started their protest around dawn Thursday, saying they were willing to risk arrest by attempting to block agency vehicles.
By 8:45 a.m., nearly two hours into what organizers said would be a daylong protest, no cars had left and no activists had breached the line of metal barriers that had been set up in front of them.
That changed shortly before 10 a.m., when the first contingent of demonstrators, wet under a steady rain, moved into the street.
An ICE spokesperson did not offer comment.
The event marked the second significant protest at the Philadelphia ICE office in the last 10 days, after local Catholics joined a nationwide show of church solidarity with migrant families, refugees, and asylum-seekers on Oct. 22.
It unfolded amid reports that the Trump administration plans to make dramatic changes in local-level ICE leadership, and as the agency received unprecedented federal funding for border, detention, and deportation operations.
The day began as a pre-Halloween protest party, with music, sign-making, and people in costumes. One woman wore pointed pixie ears as she spun a Hula-Hoop; another came in a toadstool hat. A reindeer and a unicorn meandered, and so did Kermit the Frog.
Michael Jackson’s "Thriller" blared from the sound system, as did “I Put a Spell on You.”
But protesters said their message was serious — an effort to protect community members from being taken by ICE.
“It’s heartbreaking what ICE is doing to people seeking asylum,” said Carrie Rathmann of West Philadelphia, who took the day off from work to attend.
She said showing up to protest “is the least I can do” and was among those who linked arms to try to block the street.
Members of No ICE Philly displayed big, sheet-size signs, one of which said, “Brotherly love = immigrants welcome.” Organizers called it a “block party,” named for the effort to block ICE from carrying out its work.
The 7 a.m. start was timed, organizers said, to the movements of an agency that begins the day early, sometimes seeking to arrest people heading to work.
Demonstrators intended “to step up and make it clear that ICE is not welcome in our city, and that any escalation from the federal government is going to be met with strong, nonviolent resistance,” said the Rev. Jay Bergen, pastor of the Germantown Mennonite Church and a founder of No ICE Philly.
As noon approached, with dozens of uniformed officers arrayed outside the ICE office, Bergen told the crowd to prepare to end the protest.
“We have kids here, we have grandparents, folks we need to protect,” the pastor said, identifying those taken into custody as healthcare and education workers. Bergen was also concerned that police might damage or destroy the demonstrators’ property.
The volunteer group formed in September, its members including teachers, mothers, grandmothers, and baristas, “folks who are tired of the administration kidnapping our neighbors,” Bergen said.
Last month, members of No ICE Philly acted as symbolic “building inspectors” who “condemned” the ICE facility. On the building they hung signs, bordered with yellow-and-black warning tape, that said, “ICE Raids Violate Philly Values.”
The group held a Halloween costume contest at Thursday’s demonstration, embracing frivolity as a tactic, Bergen said, as “all around the country people are bringing immense creativity and humor into confronting authority.”
In Portland, demonstrators in inflatable frog costumes have taken center stage, becoming a symbol of resistance to the Trump administration. Frogs also have shown up in Philadelphia.
“We’re a city that knows how to be joyful in the face of attacks and threats,” Bergen said. “The Trump administration wants us to be afraid. We’re saying we’re not afraid of you, and we will do everything we can to protect our neighbors, our neighborhoods, and our community.”
The protest took place as the Trump administration considers replacing senior leaders at a dozen ICE field offices ― about half the 25 that conduct enforcement and removal operations ― with officials from the federal Border Patrol. Some administration officials believe that Border Patrol leaders will be more aggressive in carrying out immigration arrests, several news agencies in Washington reported.
Newsweek reported that Philadelphia acting field office director Brian McShane would be among those replaced, not with a Border Patrol executive but with an ICE official from the Homeland Security Investigations branch.
Philadelphia ICE officials did not immediately respond to a request for comment on a possible change in local leadership.
Meanwhile, ICE and other federal agencies are to receive $170 billion as part of legislation passed this summer ― the nation’s greatest-ever investment in detention, border, and deportation operations, according to the American Immigration Council.
Because the law provided lump-sum appropriations, the money flows to ICE and related agencies even amid the federal government shutdown.
The funding includes:
$45 billion to build new detention centers.
$29.9 billion for ICE enforcement and deportation operations, a threefold increase. Part of that funding includes the hiring of 10,000 new officers.
$46.6 billion for border-wall construction, three times what the Trump administration spent on walls during its first term, the American Immigration Council said.
$10 billion for the Department of Homeland Security for border-related costs.
The legislation capped the number of immigration judges at 800, despite a national backlog of more than 3.4 million cases.
The number of undocumented immigrants and other noncitizens in detention has grown to the highest levels in U.S. history ― and could double in coming months, according to the Migration Policy Institute in Washington.
“Detention,” the research group said in an analysis released Wednesday, “is key to the Trump administration’s attempt to build a deportation machinery of historic proportions.”
About 39,000 people were in detention when Trump took office in January. That figure rose to a record 61,000 in August, then fell to 59,762 in late September. The group estimates that detention levels could reach 107,000 by January.
State Rep. Chris Rabb (D., Philadelphia) stood among the protesters, sharing his frustration with ICE and insisting that people could make a difference by showing up and speaking out.
“We’re not backing down from entrenched power,” he said. “We have to show up for our neighbors.”
Staff writer Chris Palmer contributed to this article.