Pittsburgh City Council is urging Pennsylvania’s senators to reject a bill that would provide funding for U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement.
Sponsored by Councilwoman Barb Warwick, D-Greenfield, council on Tuesday approved a will of council calling on Sens. John Fetterman and Dave McCormick to vote against a federal bill that would provide $64.4 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, including $10 billion earmarked for ICE.
In the will of council statement, Warwick likened the federal spending bill to a “ ‘blank check’ to ramp up and expand” ICE operations. She accused ICE agents of “lawless, cruel and unconstitutional activities,” including assaulting and pepper-spraying protesters, violating the rights of citizens and non-citizens, forcing entry to private homes and businesses and ordering people to stop recording officers in public areas.
According to Warwick’s measure, nearly 1,000 people in the Pittsburgh area have been taken into custody by ICE since January 2025, a figure she said is more than triple the number of arrests from the previous year.
“ICE is making the communities in which it operates demonstrably less safe — putting residents in danger and increasing the workload on already over-extended local law enforcement departments,” she wrote.
Mayor Corey O’Connor has repeatedly said the city would not cooperate with ICE, continuing his predecessor’s stance.
“Drastically increasing funding for DHS and ICE will only increase their ability to cause chaos and harm in communities across the country — including here in Pittsburgh,” Warwick’s measure said.
Council members on Tuesday unanimously approved the measure.
Councilman Anthony Coghill, D-Beechview, was absent from the meeting.
Fetterman, a Democrat from Braddock, issued a statement Monday that called for the federal government to end the massive immigration enforcement operation that has sparked controversy in Minneapolis.
Border Patrol agents there fatally shot Alex Pretti, 37, on Jan. 24 and a ICE agent killed Renee Good, 37, on Jan. 7. The deaths have sparked protests across the nation.
Some Trump administration officials justified the shootings over the weekend.
Fetterman has rejected calls to defund ICE.
“As a very pro-immigration Democrat and ranking member of the Subcommittee on Border Management, I believe our nation deserves a secured border and that we should deport all criminal migrants,” Fetterman said in a statement this week. “I also believe there needs to be a path to citizenship for those hardworking families who are here.”
McCormick also has said he opposes defunding ICE.
“While we can debate border security and immigration enforcement policies, Sen. McCormick opposes shutting down the government and defunding homeland security,” his office said in a statement Monday. “He encourages bipartisan cooperation and for both parties to come together, pass the remaining funding bills, and prevent a government shutdown before the Jan. 30 deadline.”