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Author: Anna Orso

  • Unmasking ICE in Philly could test the limits of local power over federal agents

    Unmasking ICE in Philly could test the limits of local power over federal agents

    One of the lasting images of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation campaign will be the masks worn by federal immigration agents.

    The widespread use of facial coverings by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers is among the suite of tactics — agents dressed in plainclothes, wearing little identification, jumping out of unmarked cars to grab people off the street — that have fueled immigration advocates’ use of terms like “kidnappings” and “abductions.”

    Now Philadelphia lawmakers appear poised to pass legislation that would ban all officers operating in the city — including local police — from concealing their identities by wearing masks or conducting enforcement from unmarked cars.

    The question is whether the city can make that rule stick.

    Legal hurdles loom for municipalities and states attempting to regulate federal law enforcement. Local jurisdictions are generally prohibited from interfering with basic federal functions, and Trump administration officials say state- and city-level bans violate the constitutional provision that says federal law reigns supreme.

    Experts are split on whether the bill proposed by Philadelphia City Council members last week would survive a lawsuit.

    There are also practical concerns about enforcement. Violating the mask ban would be a civil infraction, meaning local police would be tasked with citing other law enforcement officers for covering their faces.

    “No doubt this will be challenged,” said Stanley Brand, a distinguished fellow at Penn State Dickinson Law. “This ordinance will be a protracted and complicated legal slog.”

    Philly City Council members will soon consider seven ‘ICE Out’ bills. Here’s what the proposals would do.
    Councilmember Kendra Brooks speaks during a news conference at City Hall to announce a package of bills aimed at pushing back against ICE enforcement on Jan. 27.

    Advocates for immigrants say that unmasking ICE agents is a safety issue, and that officers rarely identify themselves when asked, despite being required to carry badges.

    Mask use can also spur impersonators, they say. At least four people in Philadelphia have been arrested for impersonating ICE officers in the last year.

    “You see these people in your community with guns and vests and masks,” said Desi Bernette, a leader of MILPA, the Movement of Immigrant Leaders in Pennsylvania. “It’s very scary, and it’s not normal.”

    Philly lawmakers want to restrict cooperation with ICE and ban agents from wearing masks

    Democrats in jurisdictions across America, including Congress and the Pennsylvania General Assembly, have introduced legislation to ban ICE agents from concealing their faces. California is the furthest along in implementing a mask prohibition, and a judge is currently weighing a challenge filed by the Trump administration.

    Senate Democrats negotiating a budget deal in Washington have asked for a nationwide ban on ICE agents wearing masks in exchange for their votes to fund the Department of Homeland Security.

    And polling shows getting rid of masks is popular. A recent Pew Research Center survey found that 61% of Americans believe federal agents should not wear face coverings to conceal their identities while on duty.

    ICE agents who wear masks are driven by the threat of doxxing, Fetterman says

    ICE officials say agents should have the freedom to conceal their faces while operating in a hyperpartisan political environment.

    Last year, ICE head Todd Lyons told CBS News that he was not a proponent of agents wearing masks, though he would allow it. Some officers, he said, have had private information published online, leading to death threats against them and their families.

    On Sunday, U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat, defended ICE officers who wear masks and said doxing is a “serious concern.”

    “They could target [agents’] families,” Fetterman said in an interview on Fox News, “and they are organizing these people to put their names out there.”

    Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., participates in a debate on June 2, 2025, in Boston.

    The Council authors of the Philadelphia bills say they are responding to constituents who are intimidated by ICE’s tactics, and they believe their legislation can withstand a legal challenge.

    “Our goal is to make sure that our folks feel safe here in the city,” said City Councilmember Kendra Brooks. “We are here to protect Philadelphians, and if that means we eventually need to go to court, that’s what would need to happen.”

    The constitutional limits on unmasking ICE

    The bill introduced last week by Brooks and Councilmember Rue Landau is part of a package of seven pieces of legislation aimed at limiting how ICE operates in Philadelphia. The proposals would bar Philadelphia employees from sharing information with ICE and ban the agency from using city property to stage raids.

    Fifteen of Council’s 17 members signed on to the package of legislation, meaning a version of it is likely to become law. Passing a bill in City Council requires nine votes, and overriding a mayoral veto takes 12. Mayor Cherelle L. Parker has said her team is reviewing the legislation, which can still be amended before it becomes law.

    A veto-proof majority of Philadelphia City Council members have signed onto the ‘ICE Out’ proposal
    Anti-ICE activists demonstrate outside U.S. Sen. John Fetterman’s Philadelphia office, Jan. 27, calling for an end to federal immigration enforcement policies.

    One of the two members who did not cosponsor the package was Councilmember Mike Driscoll, a Democrat who represents parts of Lower Northeast Philadelphia. He indicated that he had concerns about whether the “ICE Out” legislation would hold up in court.

    Brooks said Council members worked with attorneys to ensure the legislation is “within our scope as legislators for this city to make sure that we protect our folks against these federal attacks.”

    Brand, of Dickinson Law, said the legislation is a classic example of a conflict between two constitutional pillars: the clause that says federal law is supreme, and the 10th Amendment, which gives states powers that are not delegated to the federal government.

    He said there is precedent that the states — or, in this case, cities — cannot interfere with laws enacted by Congress, such as immigration matters.

    “If I were betting, I would bet on the federal government,” Brand said.

    But there is a gray area, he said, and that includes the fact that no law — or even regulation — says federal law enforcement agents must wear masks.

    Kermit Roosevelt, a law professor at the University of Pennsylvania who is an expert on the Constitution and conflict of laws, said if there is no agency policy, that is “free space” for states and cities to regulate.

    Roosevelt said Brooks’ legislation steers clear of other constitutional concerns because it applies to all police officers, not just federal agents.

    “If they were trying to regulate only federal agents, the question would be, ‘Why aren’t you doing that to your own police officers?’” he said. “If you single out the federal government, it looks more like you’re trying to interfere with what the federal government is doing.”

    Applying the law to local police

    Experts say part of the backlash to ICE agents covering their faces is because Americans are not used to it. Local police, sheriff’s deputies, and state troopers all work largely without hiding their faces.

    “Seeing law enforcement actions happening with federal agents in masks, that’s extremely jarring,” said Cris Ramon, an immigration consultant based in Washington. “Why are you operating outside of the boundaries of what every other law enforcement agency is doing?”

    Protesters march up Eighth Street, toward the immigration offices, during the Philly stands with Minneapolis Ice Out For Good protest at Philadelphia City Hall on Jan. 23.

    The Council legislation includes exceptions for officers wearing medical-grade masks, using protective equipment, or working undercover. It also allows facial coverings for religious purposes.

    However, the federal government could still raise First Amendment concerns, said Shaakirrah R. Sanders, an associate dean at Penn State Dickinson Law.

    The administration, she said, could argue that the city is only trying to regulate law enforcement officers and claim that would be discriminatory.

    Sanders said defending the legislation could be “very costly” and the city should consider alternatives that fall more squarely within its authority. She pointed to efforts like New Jersey Gov. Mikie Sherrill’s announcement that the state would create a database for residents to upload videos of ICE interacting with the public.

    “It looks like the city wants to wield big legislative power,” Sanders said. “My alternative is more in the grassroots work, where you are the first ear for your citizens, not the regulator of the federal government.”

  • Here’s who is funding Philly’s crowded race for Congress

    Here’s who is funding Philly’s crowded race for Congress

    The race to fill Philadelphia’s open congressional seat is the marquee election in the city this year, but with less than four months left until primary election day, it has yet to attract much money from political action committees or donors outside the region.

    Most of the campaign thus far has been funded by big checks from individual donors, and several of the top contenders to represent Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District — the most Democratic in the nation — have raised most of their money from people who live in Pennsylvania.

    That’s according to an Inquirer analysis of recently filed campaign finance reports that break down contributions to each candidate between October and December.

    The filings, coupled with previous financial reports, provide a snapshot of who is contributing to each Democrat’s campaign heading into the election year, and how capable each contender is of powering their operations and advertising.

    While money is not the only factor in a political campaign, fundraising prowess can be used as a predictor of viability, and it can persuade other donors to contribute. Ten candidates announced they are running for the seat held by retiring U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans, but it’s likely that not all of them will make it onto the May 19 primary election ballot.

    Overall, the reports showed that State Sen. Sharif Street, the son of a former mayor, holds a financial advantage over the rest of the field.

    However, the two physicians in the contest, Ala Stanford and David Oxman, have each dedicated six-figure loans to their own campaigns, and progressive State Rep. Chris Rabb is expected to draw donations from left-leaning groups.

    U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans announces his retirement from Congress in 2027
    Physician Ala Stanford (right) arrives at a forum hosted by the 9th Ward Democratic Committee Dec. 4, 2025. She is a Democratic candidate running to represent Philadelphia’s Third Congressional District.

    Interest from outside Philly will also likely rise as the primary election draws near.

    If national political figures weigh in on the race, they can lean on their vast networks of donors across the country to keep their preferred candidates’ campaigns afloat.

    And deep-pocketed special-interest groups with their eyes on influencing Congress may seek to sway the race in its final months.

    Not much PAC money — yet

    Under decades-old campaign finance law, corporations cannot give directly to candidates for federal office. But their executives, board members, and employees can fund PACs that are used as vehicles to prop up their supported candidates.

    As the role of money in politics has drawn scrutiny over the years, so has the reliance on so-called corporate PACs. That is especially true among some Democrats who see accepting money from them as a litmus test of their working-class bona fides.

    Chris Rabb is trying to be the left’s standard-bearer as he runs for Congress. Will progressives rally around him?

    Rabb has hammered the issue in public forums and debates. He says he has never accepted corporate PAC money since his first run for office in 2015, and has repeatedly called on the other contenders to refuse corporate PAC funding.

    None of the candidates for the 3rd District has thus far leaned on corporate PAC money, according to the campaign finance reports.

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    However, PACs associated with labor unions have gotten involved.

    Street raised about $40,000 in the last period from PACs associated with labor groups. He is backed by the deep-pocketed Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, an umbrella organization of unions that endorsed him last fall.

    In the past, the trades have also funded super PACs, outside spending groups that can raise unlimited amounts of money but must follow strict rules largely barring them from coordinating directly with the campaigns they support.

    In 2023, the building trades funded a super PAC that supported Cherelle L. Parker’s successful run for mayor. And in 2018, Local 98 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, the most cash-flush building trades union in the state, funded a super PAC to support unsuccessful congressional candidate Rich Lazer.

    Ryan Boyer, head of the Philadelphia Building & Construction Trades Council, was one of the first to speak at Cherelle Parker’s election night party at the Sheet Metal Workers Local 19 on Nov. 7, 2023.

    But no such super PAC has materialized so far, according to campaign finance reports. Rather, the bigger financial factor in this race — at least through the end of last year — was candidates lending money to their own campaigns. Stanford put up $250,000 on Dec. 31, the last day of the reporting period. And Oxman has lent his campaign $175,000.

    Small vs. big-dollar donors

    While the candidates relied largely on donations from individuals, the size of the checks they brought in varied. Under campaign finance limits, individuals can give up to $3,500 to a candidate per election.

    The average contribution to State Rep. Morgan Cephas since she announced her campaign was $596 — about half of Street’s and Rabb’s average contributions. Individual donors gave the most to Stanford, on average, with the average contribution to her campaign totaling $1,737.

    That analysis includes only donors who contributed more than $200 through the course of the year. Campaigns are required to itemize only contributions above that threshold.

    State Rep. Chris Rabb at a forum hosted by the 9th Ward Democratic Committee Dec. 4, 2025. He is a Democratic candidate running to represent Philadelphia’s Third Congressional District.

    Small donations, or contributions under $200, have made up a tiny fraction of the money brought in by the top contenders so far, according to the latest filings. About 11.5% of the money Rabb raised was from small-dollar donors. Such contributions made up less than 5% of all funding for Stanford, Oxman, and Street.

    State Sen. Sharif Street has early fundraising lead in Philly congressional race

    The one outlier was Pablo Iván McConnie-Saad, an ex-Treasury Department official under former President Joe Biden. His campaign has been somewhat low-profile so far; however, small-dollar contributions made up a quarter of his total of $119,000 raised.

    His campaign said in a statement that the filings are evidence that his run is “entirely people powered.”

    Stanford’s campaign manager, Janée Taft-Mack, noted that the pediatric surgeon has been campaigning for a shorter amount of time than several of her opponents. She announced her campaign in October, several months after Street and Rabb.

    Taft-Mack added that the range of donors “underscores a coalition that crosses income levels, neighborhoods, and communities.”

    Where the money came from

    While every candidate vying for Evans’ seat has touted grassroots support, it appears that Cephas and Street raised the most money from donors who live in Philadelphia.

    About half of the individual donors who gave more than $200 to Street and Cephas are city residents. Both candidates have also raised the most money from donors living in Pennsylvania.

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    Street, who formerly led the state Democratic Party and has connections to donors across Pennsylvania, raised 81% of his individual contributions, or about $488,000, from in-state residents. For Cephas, the share was 78%, or about $162,000.

    Anthony Campisi, a spokesperson for Street, said the latest finance report “highlights the entire point of our campaign.”

    “Sharif is running to represent Philadelphians from across an incredibly diverse district,” he said, “and is building the coalition needed to both win and effectively serve in Congress.”

    Cephas’ campaign manager, Salvatore Colleluori, said her fundraising within the city shows she has a “broad base of support, especially in Philadelphia.”

    “She has been a champion for Philadelphia in the state House, and people know that,” he said. “They want to support that work.”

    Rabb, a progressive who has support from left-leaning organizations and activists outside the region, had among the lowest share of contributions from Philly-based donors, according to The Inquirer’s analysis.

    He said in a statement that when small-dollar donations are accounted for, he believes he will have “more Philly donations than any of the establishment candidates.”

    Rabb said he will soon be rolling out endorsements from progressive organizations “that will significantly grow our donor base.”

    Staff writer Sean Collins Walsh contributed to this article.

  • Philly DA Larry Krasner says ‘don’t be a wimp’ after Gov. Josh Shapiro decried his comparison of ICE agents to Nazis

    Philly DA Larry Krasner says ‘don’t be a wimp’ after Gov. Josh Shapiro decried his comparison of ICE agents to Nazis

    Philadelphia’s bombastic district attorney, Larry Krasner, is no stranger to opposition from within his own party, but the anger directed at him last week after he said ICE agents are “wannabe Nazis” was more pronounced than usual.

    After making the comparison, Krasner faced a wave of criticism, including from Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, who called the comments “abhorrent” and said the rhetoric doesn’t help “bring down the temperature.”

    But the progressive district attorney said Monday that he would not back down, saying “these are people who have taken their moves from a Nazi playbook and a fascist playbook.”

    “Governor Shapiro is not meeting the moment,” Krasner said in an interview. “The moment requires that we call a subgroup of people within federal law enforcement — who are killing innocent people, physically assaulting innocent people, threatening and punishing the use of video — what they are. … Just say it. Don’t be a wimp.”

    Krasner pointed to a speech by Rabbi Joachim Prinz at the March on Washington in 1963: “Bigotry and hatred are not the most urgent problem. The most urgent, the most disgraceful, the most shameful, and the most tragic problem is silence.”

    In invoking that speech, Krasner said: “A reminder, Mr. Governor: Silence equals death.”

    DA Krasner condemns fatal ICE shooting in Minneapolis, says officers who commit crimes in Philly will ‘be convicted’

    Krasner’s defense came after days of criticism from across the political spectrum, ranging from the White House press secretary to Democratic members of Congress. And it punctuated a yearslong history of conflict with Shapiro.

    The governor and Philadelphia’s top law enforcement official have feuded politically, sparred in court, and disagreed on policy. In 2019 — when lawyers from Krasner’s office decamped to work for then-Attorney General Shapiro — DA’s office staffers referred to Shapiro’s office as “Paraguay,” a reference to the country where Nazis took refuge after the war.

    It is not new for Krasner — whose Jewish father volunteered to serve in WWII — to compare President Donald Trump’s administration to elements of World War II-era fascism. Krasner has on several occasions referred to ICE as akin to the Nazi secret state police, and last year he called the president’s immigration agenda “Nazi stuff.”

    Last week, during a news conference about proposed restrictions on immigration enforcement in Philadelphia, the district attorney said he would “hunt down” and prosecute U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who commit crimes in the city.

    “There will be accountability now. There will be accountability in the future. There will be accountability after [Trump] is out of office,” Krasner said. “If we have to hunt you down the way they hunted down Nazis for decades, we will find your identities.”

    DA Larry Krasner forms coalition of progressive prosecutors committed to charging federal agents who commit crimes
    Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro during a talk for his new memoir “Where We Keep the Light” on Jan. 29 in Washington.

    Shapiro, who is Jewish and is a rumored presidential contender, was interviewed a dozen times last week on national media while promoting his new memoir and condemned ICE’s tactics during all of them.

    During an interview Thursday on Fox News’ Special Report with Bret Baier, Shapiro was asked about Krasner’s comparison of ICE agents to Nazis and called the comments “unacceptable.”

    “It is abhorrent and it is wrong, period, hard stop, end of sentence,” Shapiro said.

    Several other Democrats in political and media circles weighed in. U.S. Sen. John Fetterman, a Pennsylvania Democrat who has at times sided with Trump on immigration matters, appeared on Fox News and said he “strongly” condemned Krasner’s language.

    He said that “members of ICE are not Nazis.”

    “That’s gross,” Fetterman said. “Do not compare anyone to Nazis. Don’t use that kind of rhetoric. That can incite violence.”

    ‘Serious concern’: ICE agents who wear masks are driven by the threat of doxing, Pa. Sen. John Fetterman tells Fox News
    Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pennsylvania).

    U.S. Rep. Chris Deluzio, a Democrat who represents parts of Western Pennsylvania, in an interview with the Washington Examiner contrasted his own approach with Krasner’s, saying: “I reserve throwing the phrase Nazis at actual Nazis. I don’t just throw that around.”

    And State Rep. Manuel Guzman Jr., a Democrat who represents a significant Latino population in Berks County, wrote on social media Friday: “I really, really want Krasner to chill tf out.”

    “I get it. We want to protect our immigrant community,” Guzman wrote, “but I question if constantly poking the bear is the right strategy. At the end of the day it’s my community that is under siege.”

    Republicans also swiftly castigated Krasner.

    On Wednesday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared a video clip of Krasner’s comments on social media, writing: “Will the media ask Dems to condemn?”

    And U.S. Rep. Dan Meuser, a Republican who represents parts of Northeast Pennsylvania, appeared on Newsmax and called Krasner a “psychopath with a badge.”

    Meuser — who considered challenging Shapiro for governor with Trump’s backing but ultimately decided not to run — also on social media decried “the Left’s silence and, in many cases, encouragement of this rhetoric.”

    Krasner doubled down. In an interview on CNN on Thursday, he criticized Fetterman as “not a real Democrat” and also said, “There are some people who are all in on the fascist takeover of this country who do not like the comparison to Nazi Germany.”

    He said that when he promised to “hunt down” federal agents who kill someone in his jurisdiction, he was attempting to make a point that there is no statute of limitations on homicide.

    The interviewer, Kaitlan Collins, asked Krasner whether he could have made that point without comparing agents to Nazis.

    “Why would I do that?” Krasner responded. “They’re taking almost everything they do out of the Nazi playbook.”

  • Philly lawmakers want to restrict cooperation with ICE and ban agents from wearing masks

    Philly lawmakers want to restrict cooperation with ICE and ban agents from wearing masks

    Philadelphia lawmakers are set to consider legislation that would make it harder for ICE to operate in the city, including limiting information sharing, restricting activity on city-owned property, and prohibiting agents from concealing their identities.

    Among the package of bills set to be introduced Thursday is an ordinance that effectively makes permanent Philadelphia’s status as a so-called “sanctuary city” by barring city officials from holding undocumented immigrants at ICE’s request without a court order. Another bans discrimination based on immigration status.

    Two City Council members are expected to introduce the legislation as U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement is facing mounting national scrutiny over its tactics in Minneapolis, where federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens this month.

    Councilmembers Rue Landau, a Democrat, and Kendra Brooks, of the progressive Working Families Party, said in an interview that the violence in Minneapolis hardened their resolve to introduce legislation to protect a population that includes an estimated 76,000 undocumented immigrants in Philadelphia.

    “It’s been very disheartening and frightening to watch ICE act with such lawlessness,” Landau said. “When they rise to the level of killing innocent civilians, unprecedented murders … this is absolutely the time to stand up and act.”

    The package of a half-dozen bills is the most significant legislative effort that Council has undertaken to strengthen protections for immigrants since President Donald Trump took office last year on a promise to carry out a mass deportation campaign nationwide.

    Left: City Councilmember Rue Landau. Right: City Councilmember Kendra Brooks. Landau and Brooks are introducing legislation this week to make it harder for ICE to operate in Philadelphia, including by limiting city cooperation with the agency.

    ICE spokespeople did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

    Jasmine Rivera, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition, said it’s not the job nor the jurisdiction of the city to enforce federal law.

    The goal of the legislation, Rivera said, is ensuring that “not a single dime and single second of our local resources is being spent collaborating with agencies that are executing people.”

    Mayor Cherelle Parker won’t say how Philly is responding to President Donald Trump’s demands on ‘sanctuary’ policies

    Activists have for months urged Mayor Cherelle L. Parker to formally affirm her commitment to the city’s sanctuary status. Top city officials say an executive order signed by the former mayor to limit the city’s cooperation with ICE remains in place.

    But Parker, a centrist Democrat, has taken a quieter approach than her colleagues in Council, largely avoiding criticizing the Trump administration outwardly and saying often that she is focused on her own agenda.

    Now, the mayor could be forced to take a side. If City Council passes Landau and Brooks’ legislation this spring, Parker could either sign the bills into law, veto them, or take no action and allow them to lapse into law without her signature. She has never vetoed a bill.

    Joe Grace, a spokesperson for Parker, declined to comment on the legislation.

    Mayor Cherelle L. Parker speaks at a news conference earlier this month. It is unclear how she will act on upcoming legislation related to ICE operations in Philadelphia.

    It’s unclear what fate the ICE legislation could meet in Council. The 17-member body has just one Republican, but Parker holds influence with many of the Democrats in the chamber.

    City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, a Democrat who controls the flow of legislation, has not taken a position on the package proposed by Landau and Brooks.

    But he said in a statement that “Philadelphia has long positioned itself as a welcoming city that values the contributions of immigrants and strives to protect their rights and safety.”

    “I have deep concerns about federal ICE actions directed by President Donald Trump’s administration that sow fear and anxiety in immigrant communities,” Johnson said, “underscoring the belief that enforcement practices should be lawful, humane, and not undermine trust in public safety.”

    Making sanctuary status the law

    Border Patrol and ICE are both federal immigration agencies, which are legally allowed to operate in public places and subject to federal rules and regulations. Some cities and states — not including Pennsylvania and New Jersey — actively cooperate with ICE through written agreements.

    Since 2016, Philadelphia has operated under an executive order signed by former Mayor Jim Kenney, which prohibits city jails from honoring ICE “detainer requests,” in which federal agents ask the city to hold undocumented immigrants in jail for longer than they would have otherwise been in custody to facilitate their arrest by federal authorities.

    Undocumented immigrants are not shielded from federal immigration enforcement, nor from being arrested and charged by local police for local offenses.

    Some refer to the noncooperation arrangement as “sanctuary.” As the term “sanctuary cities” has become politically toxic, some local officials — including in Philadelphia — have backed away from it, instead declaring their jurisdictions to be “welcoming cities.”

    Philadelphia says it’s a ‘welcoming’ — not ‘sanctuary’ — city as the Trump administration threatens funding cuts

    Parker administration officials have said several times over the last year that Philadelphia remains a “welcoming city.”

    Protesters march up Eighth Street, toward the immigration offices, during the Philly stands with Minneapolis Ice Out For Good protest at Philadelphia’s City Hall on Jan. 23.

    But advocates for immigrants have said they want an ironclad city policy that can’t be rescinded by a mayor.

    Landau and Brooks’ legislation would be that, codifying the executive order into law and adding new prohibitions on information sharing. The package includes legislation to:

    • Strengthen restrictions on city workers, including banning local police from carrying out federal immigration enforcement and prohibiting city workers from assisting in enforcement operations.
    • Prohibiting law enforcement officers from concealing their identities, including by wearing masks or covering up badges with identifying information.
    • Banning ICE from staging raids on city-owned property and designated community spaces such as schools, parks, libraries, and homeless shelters. (It would not apply to the Criminal Justice Center, where ICE has had a presence. The courthouse is overseen by both city and state agencies.)
    • Prohibiting city agencies and contractors from providing ICE access to data sets to assist in immigration enforcement.
    • Restricting city employees from inquiring about individuals’ immigration status unless required by a court order, or state or federal law.

    Peter Pedemonti, co-director of New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, an advocacy organization that partnered with the Council members to craft the package of bills, compared ICE to an octopus that has multiple arms reaching into different facets of American life.

    The proposed legislation, he said, is a means to bind a few of those arms.

    “The whole world can see the violence and brutality,” Pedemonti said. “This is a moment where all of us need to stand up, and Philadelphia can stand up and speak out loud and clear that we don’t want ICE here to pull our families apart, the families that make Philadelphia Philadelphia.”

    An impending showdown that Parker hoped to avoid

    Homeland Security officials claim that sanctuary jurisdictions protect criminal, undocumented immigrants from facing consequences while putting U.S. citizens and law enforcement officers in peril.

    Last year, the Trump administration named Philadelphia as among the jurisdictions impeding federal immigration enforcement. The White House has said the federal government will cut off funding to sanctuary cities by Feb. 1.

    However, the president has made no explicit threat to ramp up ICE activities in Philadelphia.

    Some of Parker’s supporters say the mayor’s conflict-averse strategy has spared Philadelphia as other cities such as Washington, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Minneapolis have seen National Guard troops or waves of ICE agents arrive in force.

    Why hasn’t Trump sent troops to Philly, the city where ‘bad things happen’? Everyone has a theory.
    Residents near the scene of a shooting by a federal law enforcement agent in Minneapolis on Saturday.

    Critics, including the backers of the new legislation, have for months pressed Parker to take a stronger stand.

    Brooks said she “would love to have the support of the administration.”

    “This should be something that we should be working collaboratively on,” she said. “Philadelphia residents are demanding us do something as elected officials, and this is our time to lead.”

    But Parker has not been eager to speak about Philadelphia’s immigration policies.

    For example, the city is refusing to release a September letter it sent to the U.S. Department of Justice regarding its immigration-related policies, even after the Pennsylvania Office of Open Records ruled its reasoning for keeping the document secret was invalid. The Inquirer has requested a copy of the letter under the state Right-to-Know Law.

    The new Council legislation and the increasing tension over Trump’s deportation push may force Parker to take a clearer position.

    Notably, the city sued the federal government last week over its removal of exhibits related to slavery from the President’s House at Independence National Historical Park, potentially signaling a new willingness by Parker to push back against the White House.

    But even then, Parker declined to take a jab at Trump.

    “In moments like this,” she said last week, “it requires that I be the leader that I need to be for our city, and I can’t allow my pride, ego, or emotions to dictate what my actions will be.”

  • How Jamie Gauthier charted a new path to power in Philadelphia City Hall

    How Jamie Gauthier charted a new path to power in Philadelphia City Hall

    When Mayor Cherelle L. Parker unveiled her much-anticipated plan to address Philadelphia’s housing crisis last year, there was predictable criticism from the political left. Activists said the proposal drafted by the moderate Democrat would not do enough for the city’s poorest residents.

    Less predictable was that a majority of City Council stood with them.

    Even the Council president, a centrist ally of the mayor, sided with a progressive faction that just two years ago had been soundly defeated in the mayor’s race — but whose new de facto leader in City Hall has proven adept at building alliances across the ideological spectrum.

    At the center of that shift was Jamie Gauthier.

    The second-term Democratic lawmaker from West Philadelphia has solidified herself over the last year as a leading voice on Council and a counterweight to Parker. She has worked within the system as opposed to trying to break it, maintaining relationships with power players who disagree with her on policy.

    She counts Ryan N. Boyer — the labor leader who is Parker’s closest political ally — among those who consider her a “thought leader.”

    “Over the last year, what you saw,” Boyer said, “is her modulate her positions to become more practical.”

    Gauthier has generally voted with progressives, including last year when she opposed the controversial Center City 76ers arena proposal. But she has also endeavored to be a team player, at times compromising on ideological battles to focus on priorities in her district.

    Last year, she voted for Parker’s plan to cut taxes for businesses and corporations when other progressives opposed it, because her main priority was securing housing funding. She has not opposed some tough-on-crime efforts in the Kensington drug market, instead allowing her colleagues who represent that area to dictate the policy there.

    She says she is trying to use her political capital where it matters.

    “Why would I take a protest vote and tank a relationship with a colleague when I’m going to need them later?” she said. “I want to win.”

    Councilmember Jamie Gauthier talks with news media following a special session of City Council on March 24, 2025.

    The fact that Gauthier is a district Council member who represents a large swath of the city west of the Schuylkill also gives her cachet with colleagues. Council has a long tradition of honoring how members want their own neighborhoods to be governed.

    Gauthier, who leads Council’s housing committee, has used the influence to make West Philadelphia something of a testing ground for left-of-center policy. Plenty oppose what they see as draconian restrictions on real estate development in her district.

    Others see a progressive champion, and some political observers think Gauthier could amass enough support to run for mayor one day. She doesn’t deny that she has thought about it.

    But for whatever politics Gauthier can navigate in City Hall, she knows she can rise only if she is successful at home.

    ‘Not just a lone actor’

    When Parker took office, Council was in a moment of upheaval. Council President Kenyatta Johnson was the new leader of the chamber, and several prominent voices were gone after they had resigned to run for mayor themselves.

    One was Helen Gym, who was seen as the leader of Council’s left flank. There were questions about who would fill the void once Gym was gone.

    Gauthier, 47, an urban planner by trade, did not come up through an activist movement in the same way Gym did, and was a bit more reserved in her style.

    But she carries the mantle for the same theory of governance: that lawmakers should prioritize the vulnerable, and that what is good for business is not necessarily good for everyone else.

    That set Gauthier on an ideological collision course with Parker, a former Council member who ran for office on a promise to uplift the middle class, a group the mayor believes has been too often ignored.

    It came to a head in the fight over Parker’s Housing Opportunities Made Easy, or H.O.M.E., initiative.

    Parker wanted to set unusually high income eligibility thresholds for some of the programs so that middle-class families could unlock government subsidies they may not otherwise qualify for. A significant portion of Council, meanwhile, wanted the money to go initially to Philadelphians most vulnerable to displacement.

    Parker was clear-eyed about who was leading the charge.

    “Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, she may be comfortable and OK with telling Philadelphia homeowners, working-class Philadelphians, that they have to wait and there is no sense of urgency for them,” Parker said in a December interview on WHYY. “But that is not a sentiment that I support or agree with.”

    Gauthier is quick to point out that she did not work alone, and that one member of a 17-member body cannot accomplish much. Alongside Councilmember Rue Landau, a fellow Democrat and a housing attorney by trade, Gauthier worked for months to win over her colleagues.

    In the end, Council approved a version of the housing initiative closer to Gauthier’s vision.

    Gauthier didn’t think Parker helped her own cause. A “line was crossed,” she said, when Parker took the fight outside City Hall and to the pulpit. Amid negotiations with Council, the mayor went to 10 churches on one Sunday in December to lobby for support, saying her vision was to not “pit the ‘have-nots’ against those who have just a little bit.”

    Mayor Parker’s second year saw big wins and signs of tension in Philadelphia City Hall
    Mayor Cherelle L. Parker speaks to the crowd at The Church of Christian Compassion in the Cobbs Creek neighborhood of West Philadelphia on Sunday, Dec. 7, 2025. Parker visited 10 churches in Philadelphia on Sunday to share details about her HOME housing plan.

    To Gauthier, the divisiveness was coming from the mayor’s office.

    “I wish the mayor and her administration were more open to other people’s ideas, were more OK with disagreement on policy issues, and more aware of Council as a completely separate chamber of government,” Gauthier said, “as opposed to a body that works for her.”

    That is a candid assessment of the relationship between Parker and City Council from Gauthier. Few lawmakers from the mayor’s own party have criticized her publicly.

    Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle Parker holds a press conference regarding her first budget flanked by members of city council in her reception room, Philadelphia City Hall on Thursday, June 6, 2024. Council members from left are Kendra Brooks, Jamie Gauthier, council president Kenyatta Johnson, and Quetcy Lozada.

    State Rep. Rick Krajewski, a West Philadelphia Democrat and a progressive who has worked closely with Gauthier, said the fight over H.O.M.E. showed that Gauthier has learned “the diplomacy required to be an effective legislator.”

    “It was a good example of not being afraid of a conflict that felt important to stand up for,” he said, “but then to not just be a lone actor, but organize with other colleagues and allies.”

    Gauthier’s most important ally was Johnson, who negotiated directly with Parker through the process and controls the flow of legislation in the chamber.

    The two go back years. Before Johnson was Council president, he made a point of welcoming new members, a gesture that has always stuck with Gauthier. They worked closely to secure funding for gun violence prevention. And Gauthier said that since Johnson took the gavel, he has been more open to working with progressives than his predecessor was.

    She was also key to Johnson’s ascent. When he was locked in a tight battle for the Council presidency, it was Gauthier who became the ninth Council member to commit to voting for Johnson, allowing him to secure a majority of members and the presidency.

    He does not talk about that publicly. What he will say is that he works in partnership with Gauthier because she understands “the bigger picture in terms of how we move forward as the institution.”

    “I consider her to be a pragmatic idealist,” Johnson said. “She wears her heart on her sleeve, and she really believes in actually doing the work.”

    Creating a testing ground in West Philly

    When Gauthier first ran for office in 2019 against a member of one of Philadelphia’s most entrenched political families, she ran as a good-government urbanist. She railed against councilmanic prerogative, the city’s long tradition of allowing district Council members final say over land-use decisions in their areas.

    She was also supported by real estate interests, some of whom now have buyer’s remorse.

    After Gauthier pulled off a shock win, she arrived in Council and quickly aligned with the progressive bloc. Through her first two terms, she has used councilmanic prerogative often, and has voted with her district Council colleagues so that they can do the same.

    She admits that it is an effective tool for accomplishing her goals quickly.

    Carol Jenkins, a Democratic ward leader in West Philadelphia, said Gauthier’s use of councilmanic prerogative is “part of her maturation.”

    “That’s the power you have,” Jenkins said.

    City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier in her district near 52nd Street and Cedar Avenue in Philadelphia on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025.

    Gauthier has at times used the power in ways that the city’s urbanists and development interests can get behind. She has quickly approved bike lane expansions. And she recently was the only district Council member to allow her entire district to be included in legislation that cuts red tape for restaurants that want to offer outdoor dining.

    However, her most notable use of councilmanic prerogative has been in housing policy, and some developers say her district is now the most hostile to growth in the city.

    In Gauthier’s first term, she championed legislation to create what is known as a Mixed Income Neighborhood overlay. In essence, it requires that developers building projects with 10 or more units in certain parts of her district make at least 20% of their units affordable. That is defined as accessible for rental households earning up to 40% of the area median income.

    For Gauthier, it’s a tool to slow the rapid gentrification of her majority-Black district.

    But developers say that growth has slowed significantly in the areas covered by the overlay since it took effect in 2022. Some have said they avoid seeking to build in the 3rd District entirely. The only major project currently in the works in the area is a parking garage.

    A look at the biggest development projects in Philly

    Ryan Spak, an affordable housing developer who said he considers Gauthier a friend, has been among the most outspoken critics of the overlay. He said while Gauthier’s “moral compass is pointed in the right direction, her policies don’t math.”

    “You would never ask a restaurant to give away its ninth and 10th meal for 40 cents on the dollar, with no additional discounts or benefits,” he said, “and expect that restaurant to survive.”

    Councilmember Jamie Gauthier reads out a citation honoring Rapper Mont Brown during a street naming ceremony for the Southwest Philadelphia native at the 13th Annual Stop the Violence Kickback Block Party at 55th Street and Chester Avenue, in Southwest Philadelphia on August 17, 2024.

    Gauthier said she has made adjustments, and she championed legislation to accelerate permitting and zoning approvals. The mandate, she said, is necessary because the market won’t build enough affordable housing on its own.

    “As untenable as it is to them that they can’t make the numbers work, it’s untenable to me that people can’t afford to live here,” Gauthier said. “So we can come together and we can fix that. But I’m not going to move from my position that we have to demand affordability.”

    Mayoral buzz, but no ‘stupid campaigns’

    Gauthier is one of several names that have been floated in political circles as potential candidates for mayor in 2031, which would be Parker’s final year in office if she runs for and wins a second term. Several of her Council colleagues, including Johnson, are seen as potential contenders.

    “I’d be lying if I didn’t say that mayor could be interesting one day,” Gauthier said. “I also don’t believe in stupid campaigns. So I would never do that if I didn’t think I had a path.”

    Boyer said he has counseled Gauthier to pursue moderate policy and avoid being “label-cast” as far left. He said Philadelphia is not Chicago or New York, and he doesn’t see the city electing an uber-progressive to be the mayor any time soon.

    “Philadelphia has always been a real center-left community,” Boyer said, “and just because you’re the loudest isn’t the most popular.”

    The left may have other plans. Robert Saleem Holbrook, a progressive activist, said that Gauthier would be an “ideal candidate” for higher office and that the city’s leftists would back her.

    Probably.

    “So long as she stays true and supportive of progressive ideals,” Holbrook said. “You can’t compromise on your way up.”

  • A Philly lawmaker refused to advance her colleague’s reproductive healthcare legislation. Now she’s promoting her own.

    A Philly lawmaker refused to advance her colleague’s reproductive healthcare legislation. Now she’s promoting her own.

    They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but Kendra Brooks isn’t taking kindly to a recent gesture of duplication by one of her colleagues.

    The progressive City Council member is incensed at Councilmember Nina Ahmad, a Democrat who has been in something of cold war with Brooks for months over stalled legislation related to reproductive healthcare access.

    It all came to a head Thursday when Ahmad introduced a resolution to hold a hearing examining access to such care in Philadelphia — legislation that would, under most circumstances, be uncontroversial in a body where Democrats hold a supermajority.

    But Brooks and Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke, both of the progressive Working Families Party, voted against it — a highly unusual move in a body that almost always unanimously approves legislation to authorize hearings.

    The backstory: Brooks had already authored legislation to hold a hearing on threats to reproductive healthcare, and City Council approved it five months ago.

    But the hearings have not happened. Ahmad, who chairs the Public Health and Human Services Committee, has refused to schedule Brooks’ hearing, citing scheduling difficulties. That was despite pleas from advocates to move swiftly amid new federal restrictions on reproductive care and clinics closing due to funding loss.

    Now, Ahmad is poised to call up her own legislation on the matter, leaving Brooks and her allies feeling squeezed out.

    Ahmad said her legislation is far more broad than Brooks’ and would allow Council to examine the entire reproductive healthcare landscape, not just access to abortion care.

    The Council member who authors a resolution to hold a hearing typically has sway over how the hearing is conducted, including steering the tenor of it by lining up witnesses to testify. In turn, that can drive the creation of more concrete legislation.

    “You have to be comprehensive,” Ahmad said in an interview. “I’m evidence-based. I’m a scientist. I want to look at the whole breadth of things.”

    City Councilmember Kendra Brooks stands in Council during the first day of the fall session in September.

    But Brooks said she is focused on all forms of reproductive healthcare and criticized Ahmad’s legislation for failing to acknowledge the role of the city’s Reproductive Freedom Task Force, which Brooks leads. Members of that group called for Council hearings after local Planned Parenthood leaders said they were disappointed that the most recent city budget did not include a $500,000 line item for sexual and reproductive healthcare, as it did the previous year.

    Brooks said Ahmad was engaging in “foolishness.”

    “This is a level of petty that turns people off from politics,” she said. “It’s really unfortunate that she would play politics on an issue that’s this important.”

    And Brooks intimated that the saga could cause her and her progressive allies to target Ahmad next year, when every City Council member is up for reelection.

    “I’m not going to forget this,” Brooks said. “We’re very close to reelection to be playing this game.”

    The veiled threat from Brooks, the face of the city’s Working Families Party, is notable and could put the WFP on a collision course with the local Democratic Party — which tends to endorse incumbents such as Ahmad. The WFP has previously said its efforts to win minority-party seats on Council are no threat to Democrats.

    However, in 2023 when both Brooks and Ahmad were running for seats on Council to represent the city at-large, Ahmad said that the WFP was trying to “poach” Democratic voters and that its political strategy was “lazy.”

    But Ahmad said Thursday she is not playing politics.

    “She’s the one,” Ahmad said of Brooks. “I’m the chair of the Public Health Committee, and I need to be aware of what work is going on in these respects. And if people don’t want to share, that’s up to them.”

    Brooks said she plans to hold her own hearing in March — what she is calling a “people’s hearing” that will take place outside the walls of City Hall.

    Some advocates say they will participate in both that event and Ahmad’s traditional hearing.

    Signe Espinoza, the vice president of public policy and advocacy at Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania, said she is supportive of any legislation that elevates the issue — no matter the author.

    “We are committed to keeping the doors open, and we also recognize that this is the most hostile environment we’ve ever been in,” Espinoza said, noting that clinics have closed across the country. “The clock is ticking.”

  • Philadelphia building trades unions will loan $50M to help redevelop the dilapidated Brith Sholom House

    Philadelphia building trades unions will loan $50M to help redevelop the dilapidated Brith Sholom House

    A coalition of building trades unions will lend the Philadelphia Housing Authority $50 million out of its pension fund to help finance the redevelopment of Brith Sholom House, a dilapidated senior apartment complex in West Philadelphia.

    Mayor Cherelle L. Parker and her longtime political ally Ryan N. Boyer, the business manager of the Philadelphia Building and Construction Trades Council, announced the arrangement Tuesday and framed it as a first-of-its-kind approach to expanding the city’s affordable housing stock.

    Under the terms of the deal, PHA will repay the building trades over 15 years at a 4.5% interest rate. PHA President and CEO Kelvin Jeremiah called it a good deal for taxpayers as banks and traditional financing institutions are lending at higher rates.

    The city is guaranteeing the loan. Parker said the outcome will be 336 units of affordable housing for seniors on fixed incomes. Members of the building trades unions will perform the work at the site.

    “This isn’t an investment for the building trades,” Boyer said. “It’s a down payment on our city’s future.”

    Boyer, one of the most powerful nonelected political figures in the state, has been a longtime ally to Parker and much of City Council. The trades unions poured millions into Parker’s run for mayor in 2023 and have remained largely in lockstep with her. Boyer led the mayor’s transition team and has been a key voice on her signature housing plan, which stands to generate thousands of construction jobs.

    The trades’ $50 million investment comes in addition to the $99.6 million that the housing authority is spending on a gut rehabilitation of the Wynnefield apartment complex, bringing the total cost of the project to $150 million.

    A protestor carries a sign to protest the living conditions at Brith Sholom House apartments, in Philadelphia, on Friday, April 12, 2024.

    Jeremiah said he has been “shocked and dismayed” by the conditions at Brith Sholom, which was so neglected under its previous owners that tenants were forced to move out.

    Work will begin late this year and is expected to take about 20 months to complete, Jeremiah said, meaning tenants may not be able to move back in until 2028. He had previously estimated a timeline that would have allowed residents to return this year.

    Brith Sholom fell into disrepair under its previous owners, the New Jersey-based Puretz family. A 2024 Inquirer investigation found that members of the family became one of the nation’s largest affordable housing purveyors by buying up old buildings, saddling them with debt, and then defaulting on loans.

    At Brith Sholom, the Puretz family profited while defaulting on a $36 million mortgage and amassing dozens of code violations. Residents — who organized to save their homes — complained of deteriorating infrastructure, threats of utility shutoffs, squatters, and severe pest infestations.

    In a bid to preserve the building and reuse it in part as subsidized housing, PHA acquired Brith Sholom House in August 2024 for $24 million.

    In addition to the price of the acquisition, Jeremiah estimated in 2024 that the cost of rehabilitating the building would be an additional $30 million to $40 million. PHA said then that the remaining 111 elderly residents in the 360-unit building would be able to remain in place.

    Three months later, Jeremiah informed the tenants that Brith Sholom was in such ragged shape that they would have to be moved out to repair the building. Some units were so badly damaged that PHA could not fix them.

    Following the acquisition of Brith Sholom, PHA has embarked on an ambitious $6.3 billion, 10-year plan that includes the purchase of 4,000 other privately held apartments. In the face of a glut of market-rate multifamily properties, many developers have struggled to charge the rents they need to pay back their loans — and the housing authority has been able to purchase buildings from such companies across the city.

    City Council President Kenyatta Johnson speaks during a news conference about the plan to redevelop Brith Sholom. At right is Mayor Cherelle L. Parker.

    Parker also said the investment at Brith Sholom is part of her signature housing initiative, called Housing Opportunities Made Easy, or H.O.M.E. The mayor — who has promised to build, redevelop, and preserve more than 30,000 units of housing — is in the midst of continued negotiations with City Council over H.O.M.E.’s first-year budget.

    Council in December gave initial approval to changes to legislation related to Parker’s housing initiative, which set income eligibility thresholds for two housing programs funded by H.O.M.E.’s bond proceeds. Parker wanted a higher threshold so middle-class residents could access the programs, while Council’s version aims to prioritize poorer Philadelphians.

    Council could take a final vote on the related legislation as early as Thursday, when lawmakers return to session following their winter break.

    Philly Council votes against Mayor Parker’s vision for her signature housing plan, signaling a win for progressives

    Throughout the contentious process, Parker has said her administration is committed to affordable housing for lower-income Philadelphians. The collaboration with PHA to remake Brith Sholom, she said, is part of that effort.

    “It’s not just for one particular constituency,” Parker said Tuesday about her overarching housing plan. “I’m personally on a mission to save Philly rowhomes. We’re trying to address our housing crisis and doing it for Philadelphians from all walks of life.”

    Parker was joined at the news conference Tuesday by Council President Kenyatta Johnson, despite the two being at odds over the H.O.M.E. legislation in recent months. Johnson praised the mayor’s leadership and said the financing arrangement for Brith Sholom is remedying a “miscarriage of justice.”

    “This is the type of work that helps those most in need,” Johnson said, “which is our seniors, who deserve to live out the twilight of their lives in dignity.”

  • Chris Rabb is trying to be the left’s standard-bearer as he runs for Congress. Will progressives rally around him?

    Chris Rabb is trying to be the left’s standard-bearer as he runs for Congress. Will progressives rally around him?

    In the most-watched race for Congress in Philadelphia in more than a decade, State Rep. Chris Rabb has cast himself as the unabashed anti-establishment leftist. He’s refusing donations from corporations, calls the war in Gaza a genocide, and wants to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

    But despite announcing his campaign more than six months ago, he had yet to amass support from much of the city’s progressive flank, leading observers to wonder if he would be able to tap into the movement’s network of donors and volunteers.

    It appears they’re coming around.

    Rabb this week has won an endorsement from One PA, a progressive political group that’s aligned with labor and most of the city’s left-leaning elected officials. That comes after the environmental justice group Sunrise Movement said it, too, would back Rabb.

    “This is a moment when democracy is at stake,” said Steve Paul, One PA’s executive director. “If there was any moment for the style of leadership that Chris [Rabb] brings to the table, it’s this moment.”

    Rabb said he’s “energized” by the endorsement and what it means for the campaign.

    “Our movement is growing every single day,” he said.

    State Sen. Sharif Street has early fundraising lead in Philly congressional race, but his competitors are close behind

    The questions now are whether some of the city’s most prominent progressive elected officials will lend their endorsements to Rabb, and if deep-pocketed national organizations will spend money to back him.

    For example, Justice Democrats, a progressive political action committee, said it’s “very closely looking at this district.” And the Working Families Party, the labor-aligned third party that supports progressives across the nation, has endorsed candidates in four other congressional races with competitive primaries — but not yet in Philadelphia’s. The group previously spent millions to boost candidates in the region.

    Rabb, who hails from the voter-rich Northwest Philadelphia, is one of several likely front-runners seeking the Democratic nomination to represent the 3rd Congressional District, which encompasses about half of Philadelphia. U.S. Rep. Dwight Evans is retiring after holding the seat since 2016.

    Progressives and democratic socialists — energized by Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s win last year in New York City — see a major opportunity to install one of their own in the district, which is the most Democratic in the nation.

    Map of Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District.

    The primary election — the marquee race in deep-blue Philadelphia — isn’t until May. But some on the left say the movement should have already coalesced around Rabb.

    “We will probably regret it in the end, because this is a seat we should win,” said one leader of a progressive organization in the city who requested anonymity to speak freely about the political dynamic.

    Rabb is seen as something of a lone operator with his own political apparatus. He didn’t come up through the newer progressive organizations that have run their own candidates for office in the city. Rather, he won a seat in the state House for the first time a decade ago when he toppled an establishment-backed Democrat.

    State Rep. Chris Rabb at a forum hosted by the 9th Ward Democratic Committee on Dec. 4, 2025. He is a Democratic candidate running to represent Philadelphia’s Third Congressional District.

    Some of the city’s progressive leaders say they expect to back Rabb but that they were waiting to see how the field shaped up.

    Last year, there were efforts to recruit other left-leaning candidates to run, including City Councilmember Kendra Brooks of the Working Families Party, and State Rep. Rick Krajewski, according to three sources with knowledge of the efforts who spoke on condition of anonymity to preserve relationships. Both decided against running.

    Brooks — who emerged as a face of the Working Families Party six years ago after she became the first third-party candidate to win a seat on Council in 100 years — is likely to back whomever the organization endorses. The group is still in the midst of its endorsement process.

    “We’re confident that we will land on a progressive who will fight for working people, not billionaire donors, big corporations, or special interests,” WFP spokesperson Nick Gavio said.

    Krajewski, who represents parts of West Philadelphia, has also not endorsed a candidate but he said he will. Rabb, according to Krajewski, has the qualities necessary to be a member of Congress during “a pivotal moment for our country.”

    “The question is: Do we allow the fascists and the ruling class to double down on this insanity that they’re pushing? Or do we use this opportunity to agitate and say a different world is possible?” Krajewski said. “That’s what I want from my member of Congress. Chris [Rabb] has demonstrated that he’s clear about that.”

    Pennsylvania State Rep. Rick Krajewski making statements at a news conference and rally by University of Pennsylvania graduate students. Grad students held the event to call for a strike vote against the university at corner of South 34th and Walnut Streets on Nov. 3, 2025.

    Meanwhile, other candidates in the wide-open Democratic primary have tried to pick off progressive support.

    State Sen. Sharif Street, the former chair of the state Democratic Party, is seen as the establishment’s pick for the seat. But he also has alliances with some of the city’s most progressive leaders.

    That includes a decades-long relationship with Councilmember Rue Landau, who often votes with Council’s progressive bloc and is the first openly LGBTQ person ever elected to Council. Two sources familiar with Landau’s thinking said she is strongly considering endorsing Street.

    Street has also worked closely on criminal justice reform matters with District Attorney Larry Krasner, perhaps the city’s most prominent elected progressive. He inherited some of Krasner’s political staff to manage his campaign.

    However, several other candidates in the congressional race could be in the running for backing from Krasner, who recently won his third term in office in landslide fashion. Rabb, Street, and State Rep. Morgan Cephas previously endorsed Krasner for reelection.

    State Rep. Chris Rabb (left), Helen Gym (center), and District Attorney Larry Krasner attend the election results watch party for Working Families Party candidates Kendra Brooks and Nicolas O’Rourke in North Philadelphia on Nov. 5, 2019.

    The crowded field may also mean that some elected officials choose not to get involved.

    State Rep. Tarik Khan, a Democrat and nurse practitioner who has been backed by progressive organizations, said he has relationships with several leading candidates. That includes his colleagues in Harrisburg, as well as Ala Stanford, a surgeon. She and Khan were both prominent vaccine advocates during the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “There’s a lot of good choices in this race,” Khan said. “I’m probably just going to let the process play out.”

  • Mayor Parker touted her accomplishments and outlined a plan for homelessness during her State of the City speech

    Mayor Parker touted her accomplishments and outlined a plan for homelessness during her State of the City speech

    Mayor Cherelle L. Parker marked the halfway point of her term as mayor Friday by portraying the city as safer and more stable than when she took office two years ago, pointing to metrics like the plummeting homicide rate and cleaner streets.

    During her second end-of-year State of the City speech, Parker also briefly acknowledged challenges she faced this past year, including the eight-day city worker strike and a spat with City Council over her signature housing plan.

    And she outlined a plan to address rising street homelessness heading into 2026, when the city will host several major events expected to draw more than a million visitors.

    Parker outlined a plan to address rising street homelessness heading into 2026, when the city will host several major events expected to draw millions of visitors, during her end-of-year speech at Temple University Friday.

    “I am here today to proudly report to all of you,” she said, “that the state of our city is strong and good, and we are moving in the right direction.”

    Parker’s announcement to add 1,000 shelter slots to the city’s system was a stark reminder that — despite progress on public safety and a coming year ripe with opportunity for tourism and growth — some of the city’s longest-term challenges remain unresolved.

    Even as Philadelphia this year shed its long-held title as the “poorest big city in America,” the number of unsheltered people increased by 20% compared to last. While shootings have reached 50-year lows, the open-air drug market that has long plagued Kensington persists.

    And after the mayor this year unveiled a long-awaited plan to build thousands of units of housing in the city, she hit roadblocks in City Council, where members rejected her vision to bolster the middle class in favor of a plan that prioritizes the poorest Philadelphians.

    Still, Parker and members of her administration struck an optimistic tone Friday. During the highly produced event, top officials repeatedly proclaimed that the “state of the city” is strong, and they thanked municipal employees in attendance, like police officers and sanitation workers.

    Parker’s State of the City address last year was Philadelphia’s first. Traditionally, the mayor’s March budget address to Council was seen as the city’s version of the presidential State of the Union speech in Congress. Parker plans to make the December event an annual tradition as well.

    Here are three takeaways from Parker’s speech Friday in North Philadelphia:

    A homelessness plan is in the works for 2026

    In the middle of her speech, Parker signed an executive order on stage, directing city departments to add 1,000 new beds to the existing shelter system by Jan. 31. That would represent a 35% increase in the number of beds citywide.

    The move comes as city data shows homelessness in the city is rising. There were 1,178 unsheltered people in Philadelphia this year, a 20% increase over last year and the highest number recorded since at least 2018, according to city data.

    In total, 5,516 people were considered homeless, a number that includes people who live in emergency shelters, are couch surfing, or otherwise lack an adequate nighttime residence. That number is up slightly from 5,191 last year.

    Parker’s executive order directs city agencies to increase outreach efforts to people living on the streets and to collaborate with the Philadelphia Housing Authority to move people from shelters to more stable housing.

    “We are seeking long-term solutions,” she said, “Solutions that will not only provide an expanded quality shelter system, but with more beds in safe, clean, and welcoming environments.”

    Philadelphia Mayor Cherelle L. Parker holds up executive order ending street homelessness.

    30,000-unit housing plan swells to 50,000

    The mayor’s second year in office was in part defined by her plan to build, repair, or preserve 30,000 units of housing. In March, she unveiled her Housing Opportunities Made Easy, or H.O.M.E., plan, funded by $800 million in bonds.

    Parker made clear that her plan would be aimed at uplifting the middle class and often vowed never to pit “the have-nots against the have-a-little-bits.” But City Council this month advanced its own version of the proposal, rejecting Parker’s vision and directing more resources to the poorest Philadelphians.

    It was the most significant break between Parker and the legislative branch of her tenure. But the mayor on Friday defended her strategy, saying the middle class should not be asked to wait for access to housing programs.

    “You want me to tell you why we shouldn’t tell them to wait?” she said. “Because when I knocked on their doors and asked for their votes — and we’re running for reelection — we don’t ask them to wait.”

    Of Council’s 17 members, just four attended Parker’s speech Friday: Anthony Phillips, a close ally, as well as Rue Landau, Jamie Gauthier, and Nicolas O’Rourke — three progressives who led the effort to amend her housing plan. They sat in the front row.

    Parker struck a conciliatory tone, saying: “We will work together to press forward together, and we won’t let petty politics get in the way of us moving Philadelphia forward.”

    The mayor also made clear Friday that her 30,000-unit benchmark is separate from a plan being advanced by the Philadelphia Housing Authority, which is pursuing an ambitious expansion plan that Parker said would add an additional 20,000 units of affordable housing.

    “When you add our H.O.M.E. goal of 30,000 units with that 20,000, those are 50,000 units of housing,” Parker said, “and we shouldn’t have to leave any neighborhood behind.”

    Parker acknowledges city worker strike

    The most dramatic moment of Parker’s second year was undoubtedly the eight-day-and-four-hour city worker strike, Philadelphia’s first major municipal work stoppage in four decades.

    On Friday, Parker touted her administration’s work negotiating new contracts this year for almost all of the city’s major municipal unions. She acknowledged, but didn’t dwell on, the strike by the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees District Council 33.

    “We did have to endure an eight-day work stoppage,” she said. “But guess what we did? In true Philadelphia fashion … we got through it. It wasn’t easy, but we persevered together, and we found common ground, and we reached a fair and fiscally responsible agreement with both District Council 33 and District Council 47.”

    DC 33, the largest and lowest-paid union for city workers, called the strike when their previous contract expired at 12:01 a.m. July 1, the first minute the union was legally allowed to walk off the job. Union president Greg Boulware promised his members wouldn’t return to work unless they won raises of 5% per year.

    Over the next week, “Parker piles” of trash mounted across the city, and tensions mounted at picket lines. But Parker refused to budge.

    Boulware eventually called off the strike and accepted a contract with raises of 3% per year, which is close to Parker’s last offer before the strike. The deal also included $1,500 onetime bonuses for the union’s roughly 9,000 members and the addition of a fifth step in the DC 33 pay scale, a benefit for veteran employees.

    Parker also defended the city’s treatment of DC 33 under her tenure. Repeating an administration talking point from the strike, Parker noted that the union’s accumulated pay increases — combining raises the union won in a one-year contract during Parker’s first year with the increases included in the new three-year deal — will be higher in her first term than under any other mayoral term since the 1990s.

    “Just for the record, I also need to affirm — because sometimes people [create] revisionist history — I want to be clear that they were historic pay increases for our city workers,” Parker said. “It’s the largest in one term from any Philadelphia mayor over 30 years.”

  • Restrictions on Kensington outreach services take effect as City Council approves a broader ban

    Restrictions on Kensington outreach services take effect as City Council approves a broader ban

    Philadelphia lawmakers voted Thursday to ban mobile outreach groups that provide medical care and support services to people in addiction across a swath of Kensington, the epicenter of the city’s drug crisis.

    The vote came just days after the city began enforcing controversial new regulations in a different part of the neighborhood, where the same providers may operate only if they have a permit to do so and park in areas designated by the city.

    Taken together, the actions spearheaded by City Council members who represent Kensington and Mayor Cherelle L. Parker’s administration amount to a major shift in how transient people who use drugs obtain medical care and basic needs like food, water, and clothing.

    Many have long relied on mobile outreach services that met them on the street. Those same providers can now park only in designated areas or serve people for limited amounts of time.

    In battered Kensington, signs of progress

    Council members who support the legislation say residents in the neighborhood do not want people in addiction lining up for medical care or support services near their homes.

    Councilmember Mike Driscoll authored the bill banning mobile service providers entirely from his 6th District, which includes parts of the neighborhood that are northeast of the infamous open-air drug market at the intersection of Kensington and Allegheny Avenues.

    Driscoll said his bill, which passed Council 14-3 on Thursday, is not aimed at punishing providers. He said he is open to finding a location in his district where they can operate with the city’s permission.

    “I just don’t want the service providers picking where they want to go at the expense of the kids and the neighbors,” he said.

    Councilmember Michael Driscoll in chambers as City Council meets Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, on the last day of the 2025 session.

    But advocates for people who use drugs slammed the bill, and said reducing access to care will not help people in addiction.

    “Restrictions like these will not end the opioid crisis. They will not make anyone in Kensington or District 6 safer,” said Katie Glick, a nurse who treats people in addiction and lives in the neighborhood. “These restrictions will disable and kill people.”

    In Kensington, inconsistent rules for providers

    If Parker — who has never issued a veto — signs Driscoll’s bill, it would result in a patchwork of rules for mobile service providers in Kensington, which is represented by three different Council members.

    The western side of Kensington is in the 7th District, where Councilmember Quetcy Lozada’s legislation that required the permitting system applies. Organizations that do everything from handing out water to providing medical care now face a $1,000 fine for operating without a permit.

    The city began enforcing those new rules on Dec. 1. No citations had been issued as of Wednesday, police said.

    In the southern parts of Kensington that fall in the 1st District, represented by Councilmember Mark Squilla, no legislation applies to mobile providers.

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    The inconsistency is the result of councilmanic prerogative, the unwritten rule that gives Council members who represent geographic areas a large amount of sway over what happens in their districts. Lawmakers largely approve legislation offered by a district Council member when it affects only that member’s district.

    Councilmanic prerogative in Philadelphia: What you need to know

    Some of Council’s progressive members who represent the city at-large have bucked that practice several times on matters related to Kensington, where Parker and her allies in Council have placed an intense focus on improving quality of life.

    In this 2023 file photo, the mobile home belonging to the Behavioral Wellness Center at Girard parked along Kensington Avenue. It is one of the city’s so-called mobile service providers that have faced increasing regulation from City Council.

    The progressives — who favor an approach to the crisis called harm reduction that aims to keep people alive until they are ready to enter treatment — argue that placing restrictions on mobile service providers will make it harder for them to reach vulnerable people in addiction and ultimately reduce the number of providers on the street.

    “When human beings are trying to provide help,” said Councilmember Nicolas O’Rourke, “the attitude should never be ‘how can we limit them.’”

    O’Rourke and Councilmember Kendra Brooks, both of the Working Families Party, and Democrat Rue Landau voted against Driscoll’s measure.

    But Lozada said implementing new regulations was not about restricting care.

    “We’re hoping that services continue,” she said. “People have just moved to other spaces to find a way to be able to continue to provide the services that people need.”

    And Parker administration officials said the goal is not to reduce the number of providers, but to better coordinate them and ensure safety, especially for people receiving medical services.

    Councilmember Quetcy Lozada in chambers as City Council meets Thursday, Dec. 11, 2025, on the last day of the 2025 session.

    Kensington has been a key issue for the Parker administration and Council members who have pushed for more law enforcement in the neighborhood, where sprawling homelessness, open drug use, and violent crime have been commonplace for years. There have been some signs of progress, including a reduction in the number of people living on the street.

    The city has tried new tactics, including opening its own recovery house and expanding police foot patrols. The local government has also at times operated its own mobile medical services and contracts with organizations that do so.

    So far, the city has issued nine permits to providers who perform mobile medical services and 40 to organizations considered “nonmedical,” like those that distribute food. Some of those organizations also operate in other neighborhoods.

    “We don’t have a problem if there’s five or 500 providers,” said Crystal Yates-Gale, deputy managing director for health and human services. “As long as they’re qualified to provide the care, and as long as we can help coordinate the care.”

    Despite the changes, city says ‘people are still coming’

    Under the new rules, nonmedical providers are prohibited from staying in one place for more than 45 minutes. Medical providers can station on a two-block stretch of Allegheny Avenue at nighttime or at a designated parking lot at 265 E. Lehigh Ave. during the day.

    That lot, which is managed by the city and addiction service provider Merakey, is connected to the city’s Wellness Support Center.

    Inside, people can access first aid, showers, and food, as well as get directed to treatment, legal aid, housing assistance, and other services.

    People walk near Kensington Ave. in January 2025.

    In the parking lot, two mobile medical service providers run by Merakey and Kensington Hospital are currently stationed, according to Kurt August, executive director of the Philadelphia Office of Public Safety’s Criminal Justice Division. He said officials are looking to expand the number of providers that operate there.

    In late October, Merakey began dispensing methadone out of an RV parked in the lot. The tightly regulated opioid medication is a popular treatment for people experiencing withdrawal because it helps stave off cravings.

    Raymond Bobb, a medical director at Merakey, said he has seen promising results in just a few weeks, including starting people on methadone and getting them stable enough to transition to inpatient drug treatment. Merakey offers to transport people on the street to the RV to enroll them in medication-assisted treatment.

    As Philadelphia’s Riverview recovery house expands, residents describe a ‘whole new life’ away from Kensington

    “We’ve been able to take everything right to the heart of the epidemic and engage people the way you would treat your brother, or your sister, or your family,” said Bobb, who is also in recovery and became emotional when speaking about the program.

    “Our goal,” he added, “is to build people up and motivate them to want treatment for themselves.”

    August said retention has been high, despite the police presence at the support center. The officers, he said, were “handpicked” to be stationed alongside behavioral health professionals.

    “It’s not a secret that police are on site, and people are still coming,” August said.

    Still, other providers have expressed concern that requiring people to travel to the lot adds an additional barrier to care, especially for those who were used to mobile services coming to them.

    Sarah Laurel, who runs the addiction outreach program Savage Sisters and has a nonmedical permit, said she fears that providers who offered medication-assisted treatment on the street will now be less accessible.

    However, she said, some clients greeted the news of service limits with a shrug.

    “The friends we serve are so used to not being heard that when they realize that services are going away, they adjust quickly to not having things,” Laurel said. “They just say, ‘No one cares about us. They hate us anyway.’ That is how people feel seen in this city.”

    Staff writer Ellie Rushing contributed to this article.