A federally owned Old City garage managed by the Philadelphia Parking Authority reserves 16 parking spaces for Homeland Security Investigations, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security. About two dozen activists gathered outside the garage on 2nd Street to urge the PPA to stop leasing the spaces and to draw public attention to the arrangement.
The demonstration was organized by No Ice Philly, a group that has been active since ICE increased its activities under the Trump administration in 2025, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. Rev. Jay Bergen, an organizer with the group and a 34-year-old pastor at Germantown Mennonite Church, said the rally aimed to pressure the PPA and make people aware that ICE uses the garage.
Activists distributed informational fliers designed to resemble oversized PPA parking tickets, and one protester summed up the group's concern simply: “Who doesn't know what these things look like, you know?” The federally owned garage the PPA manages under lease is separate from PPA's public parking operations, and the current contract providing Homeland Security Investigations with 16 leased spaces runs from Sept. 30, 2026, through Sept. 29, 2027, with a potential end date stretching to Sept. 29, 2031, according to The Appeal.
A Contract With Disputed Numbers
Public records cited by the Inquirer showed a $53,520 contract allowing parking of government vehicles for ICE Homeland Security Investigations, a figure that matches reporting from WHYY, which described a one-year deal the PPA entered with DHS in September 2025 for 16 indoor parking spaces. A separate account from Read Sludge put the figure at $54,000 for a contract beginning Sept. 30. That earlier contract was set to expire at the end of September 2026, clearing the way for the current agreement.
The Philadelphia Parking Authority, which is controlled by a state-appointed board per the same Appeal report, said the renewal did not require a board vote. PPA spokesperson Martin O'Rourke declined to comment on the parking contracts, and the local ICE field office did not respond to a request for comment Saturday.
The current deal followed a one-year DHS agreement entered in September 2025. WHYY reported that earlier contract covered 16 indoor spaces at federally owned facilities managed by the PPA; accounts differed on its value, listing $53,520 or $54,000, and it was due to expire at the end of September 2026.
Organizers Describe Their Mission
Bergen said No Ice Philly opposes ICE because of what he described as alleged kidnappings of immigrants and others, including people who have lived legally in the community for decades. He said most people detained by ICE had done nothing wrong, while some had minor paperwork lapses or convictions for summary or misdemeanor crimes. Bergen argued that ICE’s approach causes fear rather than meaningful public safety and said the group wants to make it as difficult as possible for ICE to do its job.
Akarsh Balaji, an American of Indian ethnicity who joined No Ice Philly in February, said the PPA earns less from the contracts than the authority spends each year on salt to de-ice streets. Balaji said he had seen ICE harass his Puerto Rican neighbors in West Kensington and argued that people should not have to live in fear or be treated as harmful to society.
Escalating Tactics and Local Legislation
Bergen said ICE has changed its tactics since early 2026, pointing to Operation Metro Surge in Minnesota. During that period, the killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti were captured on video. He said fear of ICE has persisted.
No Ice Philly protesters previously blocked vehicle access to a Center City garage used by ICE in January 2026, and nearly a dozen protesters were arrested while blocking that garage in March 2026, according to the Inquirer's earlier coverage. Philadelphia adopted some of the nation's most aggressive policies aimed at restricting ICE in April 2026, and legislation restricting the agency took effect in July 2026. The Department of Justice has sued the city over some directives in that legislation. In a separate 2019 dispute over federal criminal-justice grants, the Third Circuit held that the Attorney General lacked statutory authority to impose the challenged immigration-related conditions, according to the City of Philadelphia Law Department.
Part Of A Wider National Pushback
Philadelphia is not alone in confronting ICE parking arrangements. As of late September, 12 active parking-space contracts appeared on USASpending.gov, including two held by the PPA, per the Appeal's review. In New York, the Hudson River Park Trust let its ICE parking contract lapse after it expired June 30, following a federal arrangement that had paid the Trust roughly $480,000 since a contract began in July 2021, according to Gothamist, which also reported ICE's New York field office is separately seeking 150 indoor parking spaces in Downtown Manhattan under a proposed five-year contract valued between $5 million and $10 million.
Roughly 100 people protested outside an Icon parking garage in Manhattan's Tribeca neighborhood in September, the Appeal reported. In Boston, Mayor Michelle Wu asked private garage and lot owners to reject federal efforts to lease “surge parking” facilities for ICE, according to Boston.com, which noted Boston was among 14 cities named in a federal procurement notice seeking parking near ICE facilities. In Nevada, ICE is seeking to lease 25 new parking spaces in downtown Las Vegas, per the Nevada Independent.
