Defender Testimony on ICE Out Legislation

Good morning Councilmembers, thank you Councilmembers Brooks and Landau for introducing these bills, Council President for scheduling this hearing today, and the members of council for your attention to these issues.
My name is Keisha Hudson, and I am here on behalf of the Defender Association of Philadelphia. I am here today in strong support of this package of seven bills number 250056, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, and 62.

As you know as a subcontractor for the PAIFUP contract, we provide representation to non-citizens who live, work or go to school in Philadelphia and are at risk of detention or deportation. As of January of this year, we had represented 87 individual clients. The reside in every councilmanic district in the city.

While 2025 was our first year providing the direct immigration representation services, we have since its beginning been in partnership with the PAIFUP collective. Since its inception six years ago through September 30, 2025, this project served 223 individual clients including Philadelphia residents and people detained in the following detention centers: Moshannon Valley Processing Center, Pike County Correctional Facility, Clinton County Correctional Facility, and the Federal Detention Center.

The Philadelphia clients have long-standing and deep ties to the community. Prior to becoming a US citizen clients lived in the United States for an average of 11 years.

• Over half of those who were adults when representation began have spouses who live in the United States
• One in three (30 percent) arrived in the United States before age 18.
• Among the 214 clients who were at least 18 years old when their cases were accepted for representation
• Fifty-seven percent have spouses that live in the United States.
• Fifty – four percent lived in a household with children in the United States, including U.S. citizen children.
• Nearly one in five clients (19 percent) resided in the United States for 20 years or more
  at the time they secured representation.

Through this work, we see every day how local policies shape whether our clients feel safe accessing services in our community. Whether appearing in court, seeking medical care for themselves or their children, going to work, or taking their children to school. The stakes of these bills are not abstract – they are deeply human and immediate.

This legislative package takes meaningful steps toward ensuring that all residents are treated with dignity and fairness. By limiting the collection of information about immigration status (while still allowing those of us doing this work to collect what we need) and establishing reporting requirements regarding interactions with federal immigration authorities these bills help reduce the risk of discrimination. These bills ensure that fear will not preclude people from accessing the services they need. The prohibition on discrimination based on immigration status reinforces our city’s commitment to equity.

Equally important are the provisions that ensure city employees and agencies do not participate in immigration enforcement and that city resources are not used for immigration policing. When city agencies and police share such information with ICE, it makes our communities less safe–it erodes public trust and diverts city resources away from our own communities. Our communities need our police and other city agencies to focus on serving them, not engaging in immigration enforcement. Measures that prevent law enforcement from concealing their identity while performing official duties promote accountability. And prohibiting federal immigration enforcement on city owned or controlled properties, and protecting sensitive locations, like hospitals and courthouses from unauthorized enforcement actions, is critical to ensuring that residents can safely assess essential services. These bills help build trust between our city government and our residents. The Defender Association supports them.

At the same time, good policies on paper are not enough. These policies, while essential, are only part of what the communities we serve need. The people these bills are designed to protect often face complex and high stakes legal proceedings. Our dedicated staff of 3 attorneys can only begin to meet the demands for legal services. Without access to qualified legal representation, many of our neighbors are left to navigate a system that is extraordinarily difficult to face alone.

In addition to the attorney, effective support requires trained investigators and mitigation specialists who can develop the full picture of a person’s circumstances as well as strong connections to trusted social services that help stabilize individuals and families. This means we also need trusted community partners. Partners like those here today who are deeply rooted in the communities we serve, need to be sufficiently resourced too so our clients and their families can access the services they need without fear. These supports are essential to making the protections in this legislation meaningful in practice.

We are grateful for Council’s leadership in advancing this package of bills and I am confident that the same energy and commitment will be brought to securing the funding necessary to provide these critical services. By investing in legal representation and community based supports the city can ensure that our residents not only have the protections they need on paper but access to the full resources they need to truly benefit from them.
Thank you for your time and continued support in these unprecedented times.