Residents urge York City Council to adopt local protections as ICE presence draws concern

Multiple York City residents told the City Council on Feb. 3 that they are frightened by what they described as an increasing local presence of federal immigration enforcement and urged the council to adopt ordinances to protect immigrant residents.

Alyssa Jackson, a York City resident, said demonstrators dressed in black had come to show solidarity with immigrant neighbors and argued that "our constitutional rights are being violated in this country by ICE." She told the council the agency’s presence in the community "seems to be increasing" and said that residents are "too afraid to leave their homes."

Travis Fisher, an art teacher in the York City School District, asked the council to consider four ordinances: require a judicial warrant for all ICE-related detentions; prohibit ICE agents from wearing masks or using unmarked vehicles; codify that York will not deputize local officials for federal immigration enforcement; and limit the collection and sharing of resident data with federal immigration authorities. "Require a judicial warrant for all ICE related detentions," Fisher said in presenting his list.

Several speakers described local and national examples to argue for urgency. Philip Given, a York City resident and business owner, said the Enforcement and Removal Operations field office at 1605 Clugston Road in York City covers a broad area of south-central Pennsylvania and warned that the "normalization" of aggressive tactics undermines public safety and trust. Angela Ramirez Garcia and Aida Manzo Garcia recounted family histories and neighborhood observations they said point to targeted enforcement in Latino neighborhoods. Lily Hoffmaster requested an itemized breakdown of law-enforcement spending and asked how police would respond if residents reported ICE entering homes or schools without warrants.

Speakers framed their requests as public-safety measures tied to maintaining trust between immigrant communities and local government. They urged the council to move beyond statements of support to concrete local protections, repeatedly asking for clarity on whether the city would ban masked agents and unmarked vehicles and for ordinances limiting local cooperation with federal enforcement.

The council did not take immediate action on the proposals during the meeting; speakers received brief acknowledgements from the presiding officer but no votes or referrals are recorded in the meeting transcript. Several speakers named Mayor Walker and Commissioner Muldrow as administration figures who had spoken about 'community trust,' but the record shows the remarks came from public commenters rather than from those officials at this meeting.

Next steps: the transcript includes public calls for ordinance drafting and clearer administrative policy but does not record any formal referral to staff or a committee during the Feb. 3 meeting.