Several protests across the Philadelphia region on Monday protested the Trump administration's immigration actions carried out by the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency.
Protesters oppose the ongoing situation in Los Angeles, as well as raids being carried out in their own neighborhoods.
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WATCH HEREAn anti-ICE protest took place in Old City on Monday afternoon and activists at a weekend protest in Norristown said they want to make sure there voice is being seen and heard.
"We don’t like what we’re seeing, we don’t like how it’s being conducted and we want to make that known in really visible, direct ways," David McMahon, a local activist, said.
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SIGN UP According to McMahon, ICE agents have rounded up at least 20 people in Norristown, with the raids continuing over the weekend.
"As of Friday, we think it’s about 20 individuals who have been detained so far," he said. "And then we’re not sure what happened over the weekend. More people over the weekend, but we don’t have a sense yet of what that number is.”
In Old City outside of Independence Mall, protesters said they stood in solidarity with Los Angeles, where President Donald Trump has deployed the California National Guard and 700 U.S. Marines in response to anti-ICE protests stemming from raids there.
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Members of the Services Employees International Union for the Philadelphia were on hand on Monday, and they called for the release of David Huerta, the president of SEIU California who was who was arrested Friday for documenting an ICE raid. He was released later on Monday and charged with a felony of impeding an officer.
"David Huerta is a union leader, a father and a U.S. citizen," Sam Williamson of SEIU said. "He was detained unjustly in Los Angeles on Friday while exercising his First Amendment rights. If they can do that to a union leader, they can do that to anyone."
"Stop the brutal, militaristic ICE raids now," he added. "These raids are tearing our communities apart. They are unjust. They are unwarranted."
Ricky Palladino, an immigration attorney in Center City, said that the immigration enforcement measures taken so far in the Philadelphia area have not risen to the level of Los Angeles, but that could change in the future.
“So far, the enforcement that we’ve seen in the Philadelphia area is not as great as what we’re seeing in other parts of the country," Palladino said. "But that is something that I expect to change, unfortunately."
Palladino said his office represents at least two people who were recently detained by the Trump administration and is familiar with the situation in Norristown.
“They are looking for specific people in Norristown, but when they encounter others whom aren’t criminals but may not be here lawfully, they are being arrested and detained," he said.
Palladino's office is also fielding calls from immigrants who are seeking information about to do about their status, which he said is sometimes a difficult conversation to have.
“It’s a frustrating position for immigrants to be in. it’s an equally frustrating position immigration advocates like myself to be in. Because people want us to tell them everything’s OK. They want us to tell them that they’re safe while they’re going through a process. But unfortunately, that’s no longer the case.”
