From Philadelphia to Oklahoma City and Oakland, California, many cities are developing new
– and creative
– tactics to prepare for and push back against ICE.
Here’s a look at a few.
⭐️Creating ‘ICE-free’ zones
Several cities, counties and states across the country are creating “ICE-free zones” by restricting immigration agents’ access to government-owned and public spaces.
Local officials say this makes it safer for residents to visit hospitals, courthouses, public parks and other critical spaces without fear of ICE.
While these restrictions are unable to completely bar immigration agents from operating on government property, they make it easier for officials to potentially sue agents who do enter.
This strategy harkens back to the 1980s, when some cities designated themselves “sanctuary cities”
to affirm that they would protect newly arrived migrants and refugees
and not cooperate with federal immigration enforcement.
These sanctuary cities later played a key role during the first Trump administration in the movement against family separation and pushing back against ICE raids.
In October last year, amid the Department of Homeland Security’s “Operation Midway Blitz” in Chicago,
Brandon Johnson, the city’s mayor, created an “ICE-free zone” through an executive order.
This year, similar actions have been taken in Oakland,
San Jose and Richmond, California;
Los Angeles county;
Washtenaw county, Michigan;
Providence, Rhode Island;
New York City; and New Jersey.
⭐️Making it easier to sue ICE agents over misconduct
After an ICE agent shot and killed the Minneapolis resident Renee Good last month,
JD Vance claimed that ICE agents have “absolute immunity”.
While some legal experts have said this is not true, accountability has remained difficult to achieve.
(Good’s killer has not been arrested, nor have the federal agents who shot and killed Alex Pretti, another Minneapolis resident, last month.)
To make it easier, officials in cities including Chicago and Philadelphia are proposing new ways to facilitate lawsuits against ICE agents.
In January, Chicago’s mayor commanded city police to document federal immigration agents “to set the groundwork to prosecute ICE and border patrol agents for criminal misconduct”.
This kind of evidence could be used in cases when residents are injured or charged with a crime by immigration agents.
The case of Marimar Martinez,
a teacher who was shot five times by ICE agents in Chicago, shows how this evidence could be useful.
While agents claimed she drove into them and the Department of Justice pursued charges against her,
body-camera footage contradicted the administration’s story.
The charges were ultimately dropped, and Martinez successfully sued in federal court to have other evidence released.
Meanwhile in Philadelphia, the district attorney, Larry Krasner, and a group of prosecutors from across the US have formed a coalition called the
"Project for the Fight Against Federal Overreach" ( #Fafo ) to “share strategies and best practices” for prosecuting federal agents when they break state laws.
Members of the Fafo coalition include district attorneys from cities such as Minneapolis;
Austin and Dallas, Texas;
Arlington, Virginia;
and Pima county, Arizona.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/16/cities-anti-ice-tactics?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
