With a small cream-colored envelope and a large laminated letter in tow, Bishop David Barrett and the Rev. Hugh Shields entered the visitor’s entrance on the northeast side of City Hall with a mission: to deliver a letter to Mayor Cherelle L. Parker, urging her to stand up to President Donald Trump and his threats to so-called sanctuary cities, like Philadelphia.
But they didn’t make it to the mayor’s office — or even past the lobby.
Security personnel intercepted the letter and promised it would be passed on to the mayor. The conversation between security and the two clergy members was lighthearted and ended with a handshake and a chat about the Philadelphia Eagles.
It’s unclear to Barrett and Hughes, who were representing New Sanctuary Movement — an interfaith immigrant advocacy organization — and more than a hundred clergy members who signed onto the letter, if or when they will receive a response from Parker.
The mayor has rarely spoken on the sanctuary issue since Trump took office even as the policy enacted under her predecessor remains in place.
But they still maintain their optimism that they’ll get a meeting with the mayor after she receives the letter.
“We’re not here politically to protest,” Shields said afterward to a crowd of rallying clergy members and allies. “We’re here to say ‘God wants us to say something.’”
Clergy members and immigration activists were hoping to facilitate a collaboration with Parker on protecting the city’s immigrant communities — an effort that the Parker administration has been widely keeping out of the public eye.
City Solicitor Renee Garcia said in a statement to The Inquirer Thursday that “the City of Philadelphia’s 2016 executive orders on detainers remain in place, and we remain a Welcoming City.”
It’s that 2016 executive order from Mayor Jim Kenney — who frequently and publicly criticized Trump during his time in office — that has likely landed Philadelphia on a list with other major cities deemed by the Trump administration as “sanctuary jurisdictions.”
The 2016 Kenney executive order prohibits Philadelphia’s jails from honoring detainer requests, which consists of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement asking local jails to hold inmates suspected of immigration violations for longer to help facilitate arrests by federal immigration agents.
The Parker administration’s defense against Trump on this issue has come in rare public spurts. Garcia said in May that the city is willing to litigate if the Trump administration tries to touch federal funding, but the mayor won’t say how they are responding to the Department of Justice’s letter demanding them to end their immigrant-friendly policies.
The letter that Barrett and Shields hoped to deliver Thursday both praised Parker for her administration’s willingness to litigate and the executive order staying in place.
“Do not back down. Do not surrender,” the letter urged.
Those sentiments were echoed in an accompanying rally organized by New Sanctuary Movement on the north side of City Hall Thursday. A large group of allies gathered with colorful signs amid vibrant songs and impassioned speeches by activists and faith leaders.
“Mayor, go forward, God’s got your back,” said Elder Melanie DuBose, of Live Free Philly, a police accountability group.