Philadelphia Sheriff Rochelle Bilal fired a sharp rebuke at U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, calling the agency "made up, fake, wannabe law enforcement" and warning ICE agents they "don't want this smoke" after a controversial fatal shooting by an ICE officer in Minneapolis.
Bilal's comments came during a press event on Thursday alongside Larry Krasner, amid growing local backlash over the January 7 incident in south Minneapolis in which an ICE agent fatally shot a woman during an immigration enforcement operation.
While federal officials have defended the agent's actions as self-defense, citing the woman's alleged attempt to use her vehicle as a weapon, critics have challenged that account and intensified scrutiny of immigration enforcement practices nationwide.
At the Philadelphia gathering, Bilal repeatedly invoked the name Renee Good, the woman killed in Minneapolis, prompting reporters to echo her call. She leveled harsh criticism at ICE, saying agents wearing masks and operating in local communities lack legitimacy and respect.
"This should not have happened, but we're here today. Let's note that law enforcement professionals, real ones, not the fake made up ICE, probably Trump's new army to attack citizens of the United States," she said. "No law enforcement professional wears a mask. None. None [...] I'm saying now, we are not going to whisk you away. For them to hide your identity, because when you do it there, you get arrested there. No whisk away for them to hide you. None of that here."
She added, "Law enforcement professionals do not shoot at moving vehicles. Not saying fleeing cause she wasn't fleeing. She was getting out of the way. Law enforcement professionals do not stand in front of moving vehicles, invoking an action that is illegal. No. We don't. And so we stand here today with all those who stand against the made up fake, which you can call ICE, professional law enforcement [...] what they do is against not only legal law, but moral law."
Bilal declared she's working with the District Attorney and proclaimed that federal officers who commit crimes in Philadelphia will be held accountable.
"If any of them want to come in this city and commit a crime, you would not be able to hide. Nobody would wisk you off. You don't want this smoke. Because we will bring it to you," said Bilal.
In a pointed jab at federal leadership, Bilal added that "the criminal in the White House would not be able to keep" ICE agents from facing arrest if they break the law.
Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner echoed the sheriff's stance, emphasizing that violent or unlawful conduct by law enforcement in Philadelphia will result in arrest and prosecution under local law, regardless of federal authority.
The Minneapolis shooting, which has inflamed tensions between federal officials and local leaders, was defended by the Department of Homeland Security as a necessary response to a life-threatening situation.
DHS said ICE officers were conducting targeted operations when "rioters began blocking ICE officers and one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle…in an attempt to kill them," characterizing the incident as "an act of domestic terrorism" and describing the agent's response as "defensive shots."
Local officials, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, have challenged the federal narrative and demanded ICE leave their cities, arguing that the agency's presence often causes chaos rather than safety.