Hundreds take to Bethlehem streets to protest ICE arrests

BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Hundreds joined together in Bethlehem on Thursday night to say they want better for their neighbors who are immigrants, both documented and undocumented.

The Lehigh Valley Immigration Emergency Response Network hosted the demonstration.

Beneath the bus stop outside the Northampton Community College Fowler Center, chants from about 300 people rang out as organizers rallied support for 40 minutes.

From there, they marched to City Hall to join about a couple hundred others for another rally arranged by local 19-year-old organizer Mary Walsh.

Many of them held signs high over head: "Don't bite the hands that feed you." "PrejudICE." "Against the fascist beast, the people must be a rampart." "Where's your compassion?" "I didn't grow up listening to punk rock to bow down to a dictator." "We take our democracy neat. No ICE."

The protesting comes in the wake of an U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement "worksite enforcement operation" on Wednesday involving the Homeland Security Investigations Allentown office and Enforcement and Removal Operations Philadelphia.

Seventeen people part of a restoration contractor company working on site of the nearby, fire-damaged Five10 Flats apartment building were detained for alleged immigration violations, authorities said.

"These raids are the actions of an authoritarian fascist regime, and we do not abide fascists in the Lehigh Valley," Lehigh County Commissioner Jon Irons said. "We are here today to say that immigrants are welcome here — Say it loud, say it clear: Immigrants are welcome here!"

According to city officials, Bethlehem's population of 78,000 is 30% Latino/Hispanic, 11% identifying as foreign-born and 25% who speak a language other than English at home.

While attempts to reach out to those connected to the individuals arrested Wednesday were unsuccessful, Irons said a Bethlehem native offered her voice instead.

"I'm here today speaking on behalf of my 5-year-old self because she didn't have anyone to stand up for her back then," Karen Vasquez told the crowd. "Back then I carried so much fear alone with no one to talk to but God, praying that every day my parents would come home safe from work and that my family wouldn't be ripped apart.

"... I urge you not to fall for the rhetoric or narrative that we are criminals for trying to live, for trying to survive and for bringing our beautiful cultures to this land and instead to stand up for what is right. No child or family should have to live in fear."

Whether recent events have stirred up those old fears again is a question Vasquez won't consider.

"I think we can't let fear win right now," she said. "And I used to have a lot of shame around being part of the undocumented community, and I no longer have that.

"I choose to represent my community proudly, without fear and knowing that there's a community around me that will hopefully support me.

"So I encourage everyone to come out, support, stand up, resist, speak up and connect with your immigrant friends and neighbors, because we need it right now."

Like Vasquez, Irons said he wants to morph that feeling of fear and worry into a sense of responsibility for creating a safe space for the community.

As for seeing hundreds of others show up for that shared vision: "I mean, you get goosebumps," Irons said.

Freelance photographer Christine Baglioni of Easton said she frequents local protests to document what happens to help keep her neighbors better informed.

"I just think we're going down the wrong road, and I'm trying to put the brakes on it any way possible," Baglioni said.

The bunch crossed Third Street, heading south on Fillmore Street before moving west on the South Bethlehem Greenway, with cheers and car horns of support from those walking and driving by.

If any, heckling was minimal — as was police involvement.

Regrouping at South New Street, protesters headed north across the Fahy Bridge and around City Hall before joining another 200 people or so for another rally.

Alanis Ortiz of Bethlehem said she was "shaking and furious" regarding the local arrests.

She said she even knows one of the arrested, and that he and his wife were in the process of learning English at Northampton Community College.

Ortiz said she works in the college's healthcare education department, often directing people who come for ESL classes to the proper location.

"I was speechless. I was petrified. My anxiety spiked," Ortiz said. "And as soon as I saw this protest, I knew I had to pick up a sign and do something and have my voice heard."

Bethlehem City Councilwomen Rachel Leon, Hillary Kwiatek and Kiera Wilhelm also joined the protest.

Leon said she appreciated the quick organizing work of folks such as Commissioner Irons and The Very Rev. Jon Stratton at The Cathedral Church of the Nativity, among many others, in making Thursday's protest happen.

Allentown Councilwoman Ce-Ce Gerlach was on site, mentioning her city's "Welcoming City" ordinance on the books as of February.

The legislation clarifies that city resources and employees would not be used to enforce federal immigration law unless ordered by a court.

"Now is not the time the to be scared. Now is not the time to not have a backbone," Gerlach said. "Now is the time for elected mayors, councils, school boards to stand up and be bold and have some courage."

Bethlehem officials released "Our Commitment to Remaining an Inclusive and Welcoming Community" earlier this year among public calls to pass its own welcoming city legislation.

Mayor J. William Reynolds and Police Chief Michelle Kott urged officials to avoid approving such an ordinance, citing the city's pro-immigrant measures already in place.

For example, the city police department doesn't take part in ICE's 287(g) program, which delegates immigration enforcement from the federal to the local level.

No welcoming city ordinance has been proposed since then.