PHILADELPHIA — About a hundred immigration activists and supporters met in the shadow of the Liberty Bell on Wednesday to demand that President Joe Biden use his remaining time in office to take apart the nation’s deportation “machinery.”

Amid a loud, sign-waving rally that blocked traffic on the foot of Ben Franklin Bridge, everyday citizens and elected leaders spoke out for immigrant rights in Philadelphia. District Attorney Larry Krasner told the crowd he would not hesitate to charge ICE officers with crimes if they violated the law while taking official action.

“The fact that immigration may permit actions by agents doesn’t mean they can go beyond what’s legal and permitted, we are simply not going to allow the abuse of authority hate crimes, activity, that endangers children in violation of laws in Pennsylvania,” said Krasner.

Krasner’s comments referenced one of the biggest challenges immigration advocates have in bracing for a second Trump term: It’s unclear just how aggressive enforcement will be.

Krasner vowed to go after ICE for careless work, whether it’s failing to check if they have probable cause or taking people from home while leaving children behind without proper care, which could be considered child endangerment.

Still, Wednesday’s rally focused on what the outgoing administration could do to protect undocumented immigrants.

Jasmine Rivera, executive director of the Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition, one of the groups organizing the demonstration, said the rally aimed to remind Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris they “are not done with the job yet.”

“There is still a month before Donald Trump is inaugurated,” she said. “They absolutely have the power to dismantle as much of the deportation machine as possible.”

Groups like Vietlead, AFRICOM, and the Free Migration Project, are calling for the Biden administration to take steps he has not taken during nearly four years in office — and shows no inclination to take now.

On top of the list of demands are calls for the Biden administration to close immigrant detention centers and release all those currently in custody. As of November, ICE held nearly 39,000 people, more than 60% of whom had no criminal record, according to the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse at Syracuse University. About 1,410 are confined in Pennsylvania.

“Say it once, say it twice, we will not put up with ICE,” chanted protestors holding signs that read “Shut down Moshannon,” Shut down Pike,” and “Shut down Clinton,” the state’s three ICE detention centers. They also called for the closing of an ICE detention center in Elizabeth, NJ.

Immigration advocates also want the Biden administration to direct the Department of Homeland Security to cancel pending deportation cases; pardon all undocumented migrants, about 13.3 million people now living in the United States; cut funding to ICE, and to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which includes the Border Patrol; and lift the June presidential executive order that barred migrants from seeking asylum at the border when crossings increase.

Against the backdrop of the Liberty Bell, a national symbol of freedom, Joyce Roman, who lives in South Philadelphia, held a Christmas-themed sign Wednesday showing two migrants carrying a child with halos behind their heads.

“I was a stranger and you welcomed me,” the sign read.

“I want to see Biden shut down these centers and do more to protect the dreamers,” Roman said, adding she wants to see Mayor Cherelle L. Parker speak up in affirming Philadelphia as a sanctuary city.

Trump has pledged to undertake the largest mass-deportation program in American history, and his advisers are discussing how to strip federal funding from Democratic-run cities if their leaders refuse to help him.

Trump has said he would ask Congress to pass a law outlawing sanctuary cities – Philadelphia has been a sanctuary leader – and demand that the “full weight of the federal government” fall upon jurisdictions that decline to cooperate with ICE.

Sanctuary cities generally refuse to deputize their local police officers as acting ICE agents, and some places, including the state of New Jersey, have sought to ban the creation of immigrant-detention centers. The message from Mayor Parker has been more muted, contrasting not only with some Democratic leaders in other cities but also with her predecessor, former Mayor Jim Kenney.

Yet part of what has made bracing for a second Trump administration so difficult when it comes to immigration policy is that no one knows just how extensive these deportations could be. ICE faces a funding shortfall and experts say deportations on a large scale would require thousands more detention officers and other support staff currently not in place.

Dulce Lopez-Lua, a volunteer CASA, worried about a new Trump administration, but noted he has not followed through on many of his past threats.

“I believe he will do some damage, but i don’t think he will fully prove that thought,” she said.

After an hour of speeches, that included remarks from State Rep. Chris Rabb and City Councilmember Jamie Gauthier, the group marched north on 6th Street to Race Street, flying banners that called for the closure of detention centers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, their way cleared by the flashing lights of police cars that held back traffic.

Protestors blocked traffic along the 8th Street ramp to the Ben Franklin Bridge before police gave them a warning to disperse or be arrested. About 10 protestors remained chained side by side around 3:30 p.m., while others moved to the sidewalk.

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