ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Residents on Wednesday night implored the Lehigh County commissioners to do something to stop U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, from detaining people in or near the courthouse without cause or without possession of judicial warrants.
Many of the residents placed the blame at the feet of county commissioners.
“You’re letting government-employed Nazis take away our community members. You’re choosing to do nothing and you are complicit.”Gwyn, a Lynn Township resident
“I’m really disgusted what you’re allowing to happen in the courthouse,” said a woman who identified herself as Gwyn, a Lynn Township resident.
“Why are ICE agents in the courthouse leading people into a literal trap? These people are doing the right things [by going through proper channels], but ICE agents take them and they disappear.
“You’re letting government-employed Nazis take away our community members. You’re choosing to do nothing and you are complicit.”
The group produced no evidence that ICE agents were violating the law; LehighValleyNews.com reached out to an ICE spokesperson Thursday morning for comment.
Commissioners' Board Chairman Geoff Brace said he will contact county Sheriff Joe Hanna and President Judge J. Brian Johnson regarding the protocol ICE agents are required to follow.
'ICE just detains anyone regardless'
What prompted citizens to attend the meeting en masse was an incident outside the courthouse Tuesday morning.
According to Josie Lopez, an organizer/activist in the Allentown community for the Emergency Response Network, her group was notified ICE agents were in the courthouse.
The group alerted a man inside the courthouse who ICE agents may have been targeting, she said, and he left the building.
“So we dispatched to the courthouse and gathered outside,” Lopez said. “When the agents came outside, we asked if they were federal agents because they were in plainclothes and we felt they were going to detain someone.
“There’s a video of them taking running steps toward an individual who was already outside. But we were being loud and alerting people about what ICE was doing.
"Then they just stopped and gave up.”
Lopez, who also spoke during the public comment part of the commissioners’ meeting, said she doesn’t know if the man in question on Tuesday was undocumented.
“It’s just that there have been so many other cases where ICE just detains anyone regardless,” she said, and said there were similar ICE raids in Allentown in recent weeks.
After the meeting, none of the commissioners asked said they knew what the latest incident was that prompted residents to attend the meeting to complain.
Allentown codified pro-immigrant policies in February.
The bill says city resources won't be used to enforce federal immigration laws and limits collaboration between local police, city employees, and ICE and other immigration officials unless a federal court order is issued.
That policy aligns Allentown with the "Welcoming City" initiative, which aims to create more inclusive communities for immigrants.
Impact on immigrant community
The policy is intended to help the city's significant immigrant population feel safer reporting crimes without fear of their immigration status being questioned or risking deportation.
It also aims to prevent individuals without legal status from being targeted for deportation simply for being in the city.
“We’ve gotten challenging comments that don’t jibe with our policies and don’t follow the Fourth Amendment [which protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures]. That requires some attention.”Geoff Brace, chairman of Lehigh County Board of Commissioners
“The comments tonight lead me to believe that we need to doublecheck how things are being applied across county government,” Brace said.
“We’ve gotten challenging comments that don’t jibe with our policies and don’t follow the Fourth Amendment [which protects individuals from unreasonable searches and seizures]. That requires some attention.”
Commissioner Jon Irons was at the courthouse on Tuesday and said he saw ICE agents there.
“ICE and the Department of Homeland Security are acting outside not only the law but norms of immigration policy,” Irons said.
“It’s very clear this is all directed by the Trump Administration. It’s an attempt to create fear. We’re fighting a federal government that is acting outside laws.
“From what I hear, people are disappearing from the courthouse — and not through the front doors.”
Rapid Response
In June, hundreds in Bethlehem took to the streets to protest an ICE worksite enforcement operation where 17 people were arrested.
The people, who authorities said were detained for alleged immigration violations, were part of a restoration contractor company working on site of the nearby, fire-damaged Five10 Flats apartment building on Third Street.
“This is the ethnic cleansing of our population.”Harry Faber, a member of the Rapid Response Network
Residents were prompted to attend the commissioners’ meeting via a social media post by Rapid Response Network, which encourages reporting of suspicious activity potentially related to immigration enforcement, such as ICE sightings.
In that posting and under the heading “Call to Action,” the group urged citizens to speak to the commissioners during the public comment portion of the meeting.
Harry Faber, a member of the Rapid Response Network, categorized the procedures alleged of the group by ICE agents as imperialism.
“This is the ethnic cleansing of our population,” Faber said.
Said Amber Clark, an Allentown resident who served in the Marine Corps: “Let’s send the message that Lehigh County is not complicit in unconstitutional actions.
“We have not just a legal opportunity, but a moral one. I urge you — do not let them hang out in the courthouse.”
