PHILADELPHIA — More than a dozen migrants took sanctuary inside Philadelphia churches during President Donald Trump’s first administration, the most of any city in the country, blocking their deportations by putting themselves beyond the reach of ICE agents.

Agency policy deemed houses of worship off limits, except in extraordinary circumstances.

Now that protection is gone. A Trump administration directive issued Monday eliminated the restraints that kept federal agents from entering churches, schools and hospitals in what the federal Department of Homeland Security said was a move to keep American citizens safe.

On Wednesday, Philadelphia activists who helped shelter undocumented immigrants in churches in Germantown, University City and North Philadelphia pledged fresh resistance, pointing out that a knock on the door does not automatically require an answer.

“It feels like emotional warfare, that this is really the aim, an attempt to take away every last safe space,” said Peter Pedemonti, codirector of New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia, whose members include 33 churches in the region. “Congregations are not just safe spaces, those are sacred spaces. This feels like a desecration.”

New Sanctuary Movement has been alerting church leaders that the change in policy does not mean ICE can enter at will, Pedemonti said, and clergy should ask to see legal judicial warrants if agents appear. Churches should have response protocols in place and train staff on how to respond if U.S. Customs and Immigration Enforcement agents arrive, he said.

Philadelphia ICE officials did not immediately reply to a request for comment Wednesday.

Hours after Trump’s Monday inauguration, homeland security officials directed that federal enforcement agents will be allowed to take action at places where they were previously barred, including colleges, funerals, rallies, and shelters, eliminating the church refuge that Philadelphia immigration advocates saw as a last-ditch but lifesaving tactic.

“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” the Department of Homeland Security, which governs ICE, said in a statement. “The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”

The revocation also applies to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, whose mission is to safeguard the borders and enhance economic prosperity.

“It says there is no place where people can be safe,” said the Rev. Renee McKenzie, who less than a year into Trump’s first term made the decision to welcome a frightened, undocumented family of five into the Church of the Advocate in North Philadelphia. “I’ve been anticipating this, based upon things were said and knowing how this administration feels about immigrants.”

McKenzie, now serving at Calvary St. Augustine Episcopal Church in the Belmont neighborhood of West Philadelphia, said she worries that some churches might think twice about helping undocumented immigrants, knowing they could be targeted.

Is Philadelphia prepared for federal immigration enforcement?

The directive threw the Philadelphia School District’s “sanctuary schools” policy into question on Wednesday, even as City Councilmember Rue Landau convened a “Trump Preparedness” hearing to confront what could be four difficult years for a big, Democratic-led city.

The City Hall hearing underlined criticism of Mayor Cherelle L. Parker for not forcefully endorsing Philadelphia’s status as a sanctuary city — a place that deliberately limits its cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.

City Solicitor Renee Garcia said the city’s sanctuary safeguards remain in place, but stopped short of confirming whether Parker was considering additional steps as she and her staff reviewed Trump’s first-day slew of executive orders on immigration.

The city faces an additional challenge at a time of federal scrutiny: Hours after the Trump administration directed U.S. prosecutors to investigate local officials who do not cooperate with its plans for mass deportations, Parker announced that the director of the Office of Immigrant Affairs, Amy Eusebio, will leave her job on Friday. The city will undertake a national search for a successor, the mayor said.

The Defender Association of Philadelphia, which provides counsel to people who cannot afford to hire private attorneys, said at the hearing that it intends to create an “immigrant defense unit” to assist those at risk of deportation, according to Chief Defender Keisha Hudson. The association will seek an additional $800,000 from the city for that, she said.

How churches became the backdrop to a national debate over immigration

About 47,000 undocumented people live in Philadelphia, their lack of legal status placing them at risk of deportation. They are among 153,000 statewide, with an additional 440,000 in New Jersey.

And many Americans want them — among 13 million in the country illegally — to be deported. A new poll by Ipsos and the New York Times shows that 63% support removing immigrants who entered the country without permission during the last four years, and 55% said they support deporting all immigrants who are undocumented.

No one is currently in church sanctuary in Philadelphia, according to activists.

During Trump’s first term, sanctuary provided a dramatic backdrop for the furious national debate over immigration, as families and church leaders across the country pitted themselves against the power of the federal government.

From 2016 to 2018, as ICE increased enforcement actions, the number of immigrants in sanctuary jumped from five to 42, and the churches, synagogues, and mosques that were ready to offer housing nearly tripled to 1,110.

Philadelphia was ground zero. Most cities had no one in church sanctuary, others maybe one or two, Philadelphia had 14 at one point.

Only the most desperate families took sanctuary here, mostly mothers and children who believed they could be killed if sent back to their homelands.

Some stayed inside for years, supported in daily living by a network of clergy and groups like New Sanctuary Movement. All those in sanctuary eventually emerged safely after finding legal routes to stay in the United States.

Church sanctuary is arduous for all involved, but its protection, partly afforded by the sensitive-locations policy, gave families a crucial advantage in their fights to remain in the country: time. The years in sanctuary allowed space for new legal strategies to develop, for court cases to go forward, for presidential administrations to change.

The ICE sensitive-locations policy goes back years: It was created under President Barack Obama, remained in place during the first Trump administration, and then was strengthened under President Joe Biden. He specifically directed agents to focus on migrants who posed risks to national security, border security, or public safety.

All versions of the policy dissuaded agents from taking action at churches and other locations except in extraordinary cases.

Immigration advocates in Philadelphia said ICE sometimes violated its own rules, taking action at places that were supposed to be sacrosanct.

In 2020, agents detained a woman after she dropped off her child at Eliza B. Kirkbride Elementary School in South Philadelphia. School district officials said the woman was approached near Seventh and Dickinson Streets but did not know if she was on school property.

The same year, ICE took a Honduran man into custody at a Scranton hospital, then placed him in detention at the Pike County Correctional Facility. Pennsylvania lawyer Juliette Gomez said her client’s arrest clearly violated the sensitive-locations policy. ICE said the arrest began at the federal courthouse, and what followed was a continuation of that process.

In 2019, an ICE agent appeared in Courtroom 906 at the Philadelphia Criminal Justice Center, flashing a badge and looking for a particular defendant. The incident led the city sheriff to demand that agents identify themselves to deputies if they are on duty inside a city courtroom.

“We pushed back before the sensitive-locations memo, and we’ll push back now,” Pedemonti said Wednesday. “The Trump administration doesn’t dictate what congregations do. God does.”

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(Philadelphia Inquirer staff writers Kristen Graham, Anna Orso and Fallon Roth contributed to this article.)

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