Associated Press
PHILADELPHIA — Philadelphia protesters angry over federal immigration policies have shifted their protests to City Hall a day after police cleared out their encampment of tents, canopies and umbrellas outside federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices.
Democratic Mayor Jim Kenney says he sympathizes with the demonstrators and calls ICE policies “cruel.”
But he’s defending the police decision Thursday to tear down an encampment that officials say was blocking access to ICE offices and other businesses. He says the demonstrators ignored repeated warnings.
The protesters are now set up on a side of City Hall. They want a detention center in Pennsylvania for families in the U.S. illegally to be shut down.
Philadelphia only turns over immigrants in the country illegally to federal authorities who have a warrant signed by a judge.