How Trump’s Presidency Could Impact Philadelphia

With days to go before Donald Trump is inaugurated as President of the United States, it’s time to take a look at how his taking office could impact the country. Philadelphia Magazine recently took on the question of Trump’s potential influence on the City of Brotherly Love, publishing The No-B.S. Guide to Trump’s Impact on Philadelphia. The piece addressed several of Trump’s proposed policies or administrative changes, and gauged their impact on the city. I’ll discuss a few of them here.

Trump’s policies stand to have a significant impact on the City of Philadelphia.

Possibly the most contentious question facing Philly is whether Trump will follow through on withholding funds to sanctuary cities, of which Philadelphia is one. Under Mayor Jim Kenney, Philly police won’t cooperate with federal immigration officials in detaining illegal immigrants for nonviolent offenses. Kenney insists that the city’s sanctuary status is protected under the Fourth Amendment, implying that there could be a legal fight if Trump tries to hold back funding. This funding goes towards SEPTA, public housing, and other agencies.

Then there’s Trump’s wish to appoint Jeff Sessions as Attorney General. Trump made a big deal on the campaign trail out of “law and order,” and Sessions has spoken out as being inclined towards harsher sentencing of nonviolent drug offenders. Philadelphia already locks up more offenders than any other city in the nation. PhillyMag pointed out that “Sessions has said “good people don’t smoke marijuana” and spoke out against a bill that would have let judges decrease prison time for some drug offenders.” Combine that with charges that Sessions is a racist, and you have all the ingredients for bad PR between the police and citizens.

Speaking of bad PR, there’s also Trump’s plan to block Muslims from entering the country and to possibly bring back a Bush-era policy of fingerprinting and surveilling both legal and undocumented immigrants from “terror-prone” regions. Philadelphia has some 200,000 Muslim citizens, many of whom are African-American. Such policies could promote hatred and fear, things that nobody needs.

The full Philadelphia Magazine article covers other proposals and their potential impact, most of which are negative. It remains to be seen what a Trump presidency will mean for Philadelphia, as well as the rest of the nation.