Immigrant advocates encourage Norristown residents to ‘raise their voices’ amid increased ICE arrests.

Dozens of Norristown residents stood on the corner of West Marshall and George Streets on Saturday, enduring the rain in support of their immigrant neighbors.

Following weeks of intense ICE presence in the Montgomery County seat, organizer Denise Agurto, 47, asked all undocumented neighbors to go home for their safety.

“This is the time for your allies to be here supporting you,” Agurto, executive director of Unides Para Servir Norristown, told the crowd. “No matter where you are from, we are glad you are our neighbor.”

In the last two weeks, more than 20 people have been taken into custody by ICE in Norristown, Agurto said, including a 34-year-old man arrested hours before the rally.

“Today, they broke our heart because they took one of us,” Agurto said. “He is a good guy, a family person who goes from work to home, and is always willing to help the community. He didn’t even have a deportation order.”

Anxious about her immigration status, a bakery owner watched the rally from inside her establishment.

“Norristown used to be a place full of happiness, people used to walk freely,” said the 55-year-old who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal. “Now Norristown is desolate, people are terrified, and the business is not doing well.”

The Mexican national has spent more than half her life living in the borough — where about a third of the people identify as “Hispanic or Latino, according to Census figures — and has never seen people experience this level of panic.

Confused, she struggles to make sense of the fleeing sense of safety. “Me and my business give back to this country,” she said. “I pay taxes; I am not a burden to the state; I came here with nothing and work day and night to provide for my children. It’s incredibly heartbreaking to see Trump destroying all sense of community for so many of us.”

The arrests in Norristown come as President Donald Trump added Montgomery County to a list of sanctuary jurisdictions, from which he has threatened to cut federal funding.

Several Norristown Municipal Council members have also spoken out against ICE actions and criticized the arrests as cruel and destructive.

ICE has not responded to requests for comment.

Pennsylvania Immigration Coalition and other advocacy groups have issued an “ICE Alert,” warning of the agency’s growing presence throughout the state.

The groups have advised undocumented people, “If you can stay home, please stay home. If you are not able to stay home, please limit your travel.” They also encouraged people to review their rights under the law.

Saying they had no power to act, the county commissioners turned down a request this week to adopt a “welcoming-county” policy that would limit cooperation with ICE.

Legally, no local policy or ordinance can prevent ICE from conducting federal immigration enforcement.

Sanctuary jurisdictions simply choose not to help ICE do its work. But Trump has urged uncooperative cities, counties, and states to enforce federal law.

After shaking up the top leadership of ICE for the second time since February, the agency recorded its highest number of arrests in a single day on Tuesday.

Lydia Villalba, 27, who teaches high-schoolers in the Norristown school district, has witnessed firsthand how the current political situation has taken a toll on the classroom.

“They don’t want to make summer plans because they are afraid to leave their house. They are afraid ICE will be raiding at the parks,” Villalba said. “This is not how they should be living, they are children forced to grow up faster when they should be focusing on sports and being with friends, not about their families being separated.“

While Lorna Cassano, 61, doesn’t personally know anyone who has been taken into custody by ICE, as a healthcare worker, she has a feeling that could soon change.

“What this administration is doing is reminiscent of the Nazi Germany,” Cassano said. “These are my neighbors, my coworkers, my patients, these are fellow human beings.”

Milton Hernandez, 75, can’t help but feel a sense of helplessness after seeing fellow Latinos being taken away.

Norristown has changed, he said. “Now all you see is heads peeking out of doors, neighbors asking each other if it’s safe to go outside,” Hernandez said.

As Agurto continued welcoming supporters to the rally, she urged them to use their voices to inspire other allies to lend a helping hand.

“The allies are the people who can help us stop this, who see how their neighbors are being treated,” Agurto said as cars beeped in support. “They can see the empty streets, the struggling businesses, so they need to raise their voice as citizens.”

– The Philadelphia Inquirer

(Michelle Myers and Jeff Gammage also contributed to this story)

'Solidarity in Columbus': Asian Americans call for rally, support in wake of Atlanta attack

Enraged by the killing of eight people — including six Asian American women — in three Atlanta-area massage businesses on Tuesday, Columbus residents Linh Ta, Miki Gotoh and others have called for community action and shared solidarity. 

Suspect Robert Aaron Long, a 21-year-old from Woodstock, Georgia, has been charged with multiple counts of murder and a charge of aggravated assault.  Authorities are still looking into whether this was a hate crime.

Following the shootings, Gotoh, 45, and Ta, 44, have organized a rally to mourn the lives of those involved in the massacre and highlight the targeting of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders (AAPI) during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Asian Pacific Islander American Public Affairs Association (APAPA), the Ohio Chinese American Association (OCAA) and the Asian Pacific American Advocates - Columbus group have partnered with Ta and Gotoh for the the CommUNITY Collective, #StopAsianHate event.

The rally will take place at 10:30 a.m. Saturday at Bicentennial Park along the Scioto Mile. Ta said the hope is to forge various community members together for the rally, not just members of the Asian community. 

"It's not just about Asians, we want solidarity in Columbus," she said.

Gotoh said Tuesday's shootings are reflective of the increase in anti-Asian acts. 

"It's a real fear that because I look the way I do I can be hunted because of that," she said.

On Tuesday, Stop AAPI Hate, a nonprofit organization that tracks incidents of hate and discrimination against AAPI members, released data revealing nearly 3,800 anti-Asian hate incidents have been reported from March 19, 2020, to February 28.

Women made up roughly 68%, compared to men, who made up 29% of respondents. And since the start of 2021, the organization has reported more than 500 racially-motivated hate attacks.

When asked about increases in Asian American attacks earlier this month, a Columbus police spokesperson said the department isn't aware of an uptick in local incidents.

Sam Shim, founder of the AAPI Caucus of the Ohio Democratic Party and the Asian and Pacific Islander Alumni Society at Ohio State University, said these attacks have been largely perpetuated by the country's political leaders.

For several weeks, Asian Americans have questioned how to deal with a recent wave of assaults — many on the elderly — that have coincided with the pandemic. The virus was first identified in China, and former President Donald Trump and others have used racial terms to describe it.

With the use of such rhetoric, Shim said it's led to a rise in these targeted attacks. 

"A lot of people aren't aware of the level of anti-Asian hate and xenophobia going on in the country," he said. "It's important to let our entire community know that these acts are happening everywhere." 

While anti-Asian attacks have risen during the pandemic, Dublin resident Dr. Anita Somani said they have been happening long before the outbreak. 

Somani, 58, originally from India, reflected on past hate crimes such as the Emanuel AME Church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015, and the increase of xenophobia after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, among other incidents. 

The Dublin resident also criticized authorities investigating the Atlanta massacre, citing a comment from Cherokee County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jay Baker, who said about the gunman, "It was a really bad day for him.” The comment appeared to be a "pass," she said, one that could lead to similar occurrences in the future.

Baker is no longer a spokesman for the case.

"It implicitly gives permission for people to continue to hate," Somani said. "It gives them the idea that it's OK to do these things because I'm white."

Given the damage white supremacists and other hate groups have caused in this country, Somani said these tragedies call for minority groups to come together.

"When you start to divide groups up, it becomes more prevalent," she said. "I think that as people of color, we all need to come together as a bigger community to effectively protest or come up with solutions to end racism."

With the overwhelming wave of racism and hate crimes Black, Latino and other minority groups have faced, Vincent Wang, who serves as national president of the APAPA and chair of the OCAA, said they need to come together to push messages of peace and hope. 

"At this moment we should condemn the violence and increase the understanding of each other's pain," Wang said. "We are in this challenge together and we need to stand together, rather than tear down each other."

Shim said the forming of events such as the CommUNITY Collective and others are important in forging this widespread effort, which will lead to the ending of these race-driven attacks.

"Silence is not an option," he said. "We need our allies to speak up everywhere. It shouldn't come from just the Asian community, it should come from all Americans."

While still planning Saturday's rally, Ta and Gotoh said the assembling of community members and public officials will be needed in order to achieve action items and long-term progression.

"It's not a one-and-done event, this conversation has to continue," Ta said. "So we're opening up dialogue for it to continue."

– The Columbus Dispatch

The Associated Press contributed to this story