ICE arrests six in Phoenixville Thursday, say immigration advocates

At least six people were detained in Phoenixville by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Thursday, according to a nonprofit that works with undocumented people in the Greater Philadelphia area.

Rachel Rutter, executive director of Project Libertad, said the tips regarding ICE sightings started pouring in at around 7 a.m. Agents were reportedly at an Acme, a Wawa on the other side of the borough, and a car stop at an intersection.

“It really was just kind of a feeling of the town crawling with ICE because it was just kind of coming from everywhere and they’re moving around quickly,” said Rutter, whose organization confirmed the arrests and was still pinning down the locations of where they took place.

ICE did not immediately respond to questions regarding the alleged flurry of activity and arrests.

One Phoenixville resident, who declined to give her name out of privacy concerns, said she was walking her dog when she saw four SUVs with tinted windows and siren lights on their back dashboards in the middle of a car stop just blocks from the borough’s main commercial corridor. About eight plainclothes officers, some in face masks and wearing vests with “police” emblazoned on them, were at the scene, she said.

After dropping her dog off, the woman returned to Washington Avenue, near Star Street, where she saw the officers arrest two of the car’s passengers.

“From the time I saw them until the time I left, I’d say the total time was probably about 10 minutes,” she said, adding the driver of the car would later tell her the group was heading to work.

As of Thursday afternoon, Project Libertad, which has been connecting families of people detained by ICE to legal help, food, and financial assistance, was still in the process of reaching those affected by the arrests.

Some Phoenixville immigration advocates say the timing of the sudden arrests, after what felt like a lull in ICE activity, comes two days after a unanimous Phoenixville Council vote to pass an ordinance amendment that would limit immigration enforcement on borough property.

The change was introduced in Council earlier this year after the controversial arrest of two Guatemalan men off the borough’s main commercial corridor in February.

The mayor’s office and members of the Borough Council could not be reached for comment by publication.

“We’ve seen this in other areas across the country where when a city or a town, especially around sanctuary cities, takes a stand, ICE responds in force,” said Parker Studebaker, director of the Phoenixville Liberation Center, which has been hosting “know your rights” immigration trainings.

Studebaker also expressed concern over how the arrests took place a day after President Donald Trump signed a bill funding ICE and Border Patrol through the end of his term. Many immigration advocates worry that the roughly $70 billion going to the agencies comes with little oversight.

For now, immigration advocates in Phoenixville vowed to continue organizing and educational efforts.

“We really want to make it heard and make it known that the community is coming together and is willing to defend our neighbors, and that will not change, and so that’s the best we can do is show up and meet this where it’s at,” he said.

Correction: This story has been updated to reflect that six people were detained.