ICE in Philly

On the 7th of January, Renee Nicole Good, a mother of three, was shot in Minneapolis by an ICE agent. Weeks later, Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse for the US Department of Veterans Affairs, was also shot by an ICE agent. 

These incidents occurred during ICE's substantial increase in arrests. Last year, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller set a target of 3,000 arrests a day. Despite this, ICE is averaging 400 arrests daily this month, and to reach 3000, ICE has begun to rely on extreme and sly tactics, like waiting outside immigrants’ homes, jobs, routine check-ins, and, most recently, using children as bait. To make matters worse, ICE has partnered with Palantir, an AI software company, to identify and deport immigrants. According to 404 Media, Palantir developed a tool that “populates a map with potential deportation targets … and ‘provides a confidence score’ on [each] person’s current address.” This tool is trained on data from Medicaid, passport records, and other government data, regardless of accuracy. In action, this program just targets communities with large immigrant populations. ICE has seemingly shifted away from its original goal—detaining illegal immigrants who commit crimes—to reaching daily quotas, regardless of the potential harms and inaccuracies that may bring.

Now, ICE is potentially heading for Philadelphia. Social media users have speculated that the agency is increasing its activity, with several posts circulating showing federal agents conducting operations on city streets. Like many other Democratic-led cities, Philadelphia prohibits local authorities from assisting ICE without a judicial warrant. The Trump administration has referenced these policies as reasons to justify increased enforcement. 

On Monday, January 9th, anti-ICE protesters gathered at City Hall, rallying for an end to ICE deployments across the country. The latest in a series of protests held in the city followed the deaths of Good and Pretti. Students from across the city united and joined in on the efforts. Social media accounts were created to organize protests and walkouts to express frustration with the recent events and lack of support from the federal administration. 

“The student-led protests had significant turnouts,” says one Masterman student. “It lacked some organization, but I think the protests will continue to grow in numbers and proper planning.” Philadelphia student advocacy has considerable work to be done, but the first and most important step has been taken. They have acknowledged wrongdoing and are trying to make a change to fix it. Students have proven that even in these difficult times, they maintain perseverance, determination, and strength.