BETHLEHEM, Pa. — Volunteers soon will staff a new rapid response hotline aimed at protecting immigrant families across the Lehigh Valley.
The hotline, created by the Lehigh Valley Emergency Response Network, or ERN, will serve as a tool for residents to report concerns about U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity and other immigration emergencies, according to a release.
A public launch will take place at 1 p.m. Saturday at Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.
The hotline — at 610-850-9930 — will be fully operational starting Monday, with volunteers responding to calls starting at 6 a.m. daily.
Community members can call the number 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the release said, with an option to leave tips or questions via voicemail.
Hotline follows ICE activity
Hundreds took to the streets of Bethlehem last month to protest an ICE worksite enforcement operation where 17 people were arrested for alleged immigration violations.
Those taken into custody were part of a restoration company working on the site of the fire-damaged Five10 Flats apartment building on Third Street.
Additional ICE activity — most recently in Allentown — prompted public outcry in front of Lehigh County commissioners on Wednesday.
Residents were urged to attend the commissioners’ meeting via a social media post by ERN, which also organized the Bethlehem protest.
ERN describes itself as “a coalition of community leaders, faith leaders, nonprofit organizations, and other concerned residents who are committed to protecting immigrant communities as they face rapidly escalating discrimination, unlawful arrest, and unlawful deportation.”
Members of the network have been meeting since January, the release said, and are focused on three main immigration needs: rapid response, legal and other direct aid and policy/mobilization.
Staffed by bi-lingual dispatchers
According to the release, the hotline launch “represents the culmination of months of planning, practicing, and training to respond to the increase of ICE activity in the Lehigh Valley.”
The ERN said the hotline will be staffed by bi-lingual dispatchers who will alert trained volunteers to respond to situations on the ground.
Those responders will gather information on site, provide observation to document any arrests and conflicts and offer a de-escalatory presence, the release said.
