As immigrant detentions spike, Montco activists demand transparency: ‘ICE is burning trust to the ground’

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Immigrant rights activists in Montgomery County are calling on local governments to pass policies limiting police collaboration with federal immigration enforcement agents.

“We have 62 municipalities,” said Rabbi Elyse Wechterman, a member of Montco Community Watch, a network of residents that monitors and documents activity by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the region. “That means that there are 62 different police departments and administrations and organizations that interact with the public and can be co-opted and used by the federal government in ways that they’re not intended.”

Since the beginning of June, Monto Community Watch organizers have documented 97 confirmed detentions and 31 suspected detentions by ICE agents in the county. The majority of those people were detained on their way to or from work, said Stephanie Vincent, a leader with Montco Community Watch and lead organizer with Community for Change Montgomery County.

ICE has detained many people in Norristown, she said, but has also ramped up activity in Abington, Perkiomenville, Ambler, Souderton, King of Prussia and Plymouth Meeting.

Wechterman said organizers are aware of six townships and boroughs that have passed “welcoming” policies or released public statements outlining their intent to limit local police’s collaboration with ICE. Montgomery County, she noted, has passed an internal policy.

The local measures are a “great start,” Wechterman said, but “none of them are complete.”

Organizers with Montco Community Watch and Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition say a welcoming policy:

• Limits collaboration, communication and data sharing by local authorities with ICE and other federal agencies, absent a judicial warrant or a requirement by law
• Prevents contracts with ICE, such as the 287(g) program
• Prevents the leasing of municipal facilities for ICE detention, processing or training
• Prevents local officials and officers from asking about immigration or citizenship status unless required by law
• Establishes accountability and consequences if those policies are not followed

“The policy needs to be clear,” said Julio Rodriguez, political director at PIC. “A public commitment that police will do everything in their power to not work in carrying out federal immigration enforcement unless there’s a judicial warrant, and real accountability when officers don’t obey those rules.”

Vincent said Jenkintown’s police policy on ICE is a “perfect example” of why activists are pushing for public policies and ordinances, versus internal policies.

After Jenkintown Borough Council passed a policy that outlined the police department’s relationship with ICE, community members pushed back, saying it was harmful for immigrant communities. In November, Jenkintown Mayor Gabriel Lerman told WHYY News the borough is revising the policy.

“Jenkintown needs a new policy that protects the community, not one that hands our neighbors over to ICE,” Wechterman said. “And this is a lesson for every community in the county. Read your policies, know what’s being done in your name and make sure they reflect your values. Silence and assumptions are dangerous. We have to stay vigilant. We have to stay organized, and we have to insist that our local government uphold the values we claim to stand for.”

The ultimate goal is “transparency” so officials can get ahead of issues that can arise from increased immigration enforcement action in any given area of the county, Vincent said.

“If immigrants don’t feel safe to call the police, how many people will be hurt?” she told WHYY News. “If you can’t call the police, if you’re victimized by a crime, or if somebody’s missing, or somebody hurts you, or even medical emergencies …  it’s not an accusation, as much as it’s a call for accountability and transparency and opening up lines of communication now, before it gets worse.”

At a press conference Thursday, Vincent and other organizers stood next to a photo of a broken car window, which she said ICE agents smashed during an arrest of people they pulled over in a car in Norristown on Nov. 5.

Vincent said residents with Montco Community Watch who have been acting as legal observers during ICE arrests have documented agents violating due process and making arrests without a warrant. Agents wear masks and fail to identify themselves, she said, and “detentions are violent.”

“It just seems that cruelty is the point,” she said.

ICE’s Philadelphia field office did not respond to a request for a comment.

“Public safety depends on trust, and right now, ICE is burning trust to the ground,” Vincent said. “That’s why we’re calling on every elected official, every municipal chief and every police department in Montgomery County to be part of the solution, not part of the confusion … ICE has created a crisis in our neighborhoods, and we cannot afford silence, mixed signals or leadership that only reacts once harm has already happened.”