Pittsburgh City Councilmembers Deb Gross, Erika Strassburger, and Barb Warwick will formally introduce legislation Tuesday, March 24 to limit city cooperation with federal immigration enforcement.
According to copies of the legislation reviewed by Pittsburgh Manifold, one ordinance would amend the city code to prohibit “staging, conducting or assisting” federal immigration enforcement activities in city-owned or operated spaces. A second ordinance would prohibit city employees from allowing immigration agents entry into private portions of designated “safe community places”—including libraries, rec centers, parks, and shelters—without a judicial warrant.
The ordinances would also prohibit city employees and contractors from requesting a person’s immigration status and bar law enforcement action based on citizenship or immigration status.
The ordinances were written in collaboration with local and statewide immigration advocacy organizations and come as Pittsburgh Police faces scrutiny over body camera footage released by the Steel City Anti-Fascist League that appears to show officers assisting Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents during a December arrest in Mount Washington. The legislation also comes less than a week after Police Chief Jason Lando ordered a review following an alleged federal immigration arrest across from Zone 3 police headquarters in Allentown.
“It is our responsibility as a city government to ensure our resources go toward actually keeping Pittsburghers safe, not supporting federal actions which lead to fear and violence,” said Councilmember Warwick, one of the three sponsors, in a statement.
The Penn Capital-Star reports that since early 2025, “dozens of Pennsylvania cities and counties have considered or passed legislation aimed at limiting cooperation with federal immigration authorities or supporting immigrant communities.”
Last August, then-Mayor Ed Gainey released a statement acknowledging that the Department of Justice removed Pittsburgh from its list of “so-called ‘sanctuary jurisdictions’,” although the DOJ website, which hasn’t been updated since, says the list is “not exhaustive.”
The proposed legislation comes two weeks after Allegheny County Council, by an 11-3 vote, passed an ordinance that limits county police and employees from assisting ICE or Border Patrol “in any capacity” or asking people about their citizenship, unless required by state or federal law or court order. It also prohibits ICE or Border Patrol from housing immigrant detainees in the Allegheny County Jail.
County Council President Pat Catena attended the hearing remotely after a person threatened him and his family at his Carnegie home prior to the vote. Catena, who abstained from voting, called the incident an act of intimidation. Allegheny County police are investigating the incident, TribLive reports. County Executive Sara Innamorato signed the county ordinance into law on March 12.
In addition to the two non-cooperation bills, Councilmembers Gross, Strassburger, and Warwick will introduce a third ordinance Tuesday that would require the Department of Innovation and Performance to issue a report on “surveillance technologies acquired, funded, or used by the City” by July 1 and hold a public hearing on the report’s findings.
