Area residents packed an Upper Merion Township meeting room Thursday evening for an immigration-focused town hall with elected officials and law enforcement.
More than 100 people filled the seats with some standing as speakers waited their turn to share their thoughts, opinions and concerns amid the ongoing federal immigration crackdown.
“I’m scared for my safety, but more so my kids’ safety,” said township resident Erica Jones. “I’m scared of how ICE works. I’m scared of the crossfire. They tend to leave a mess behind whenever they go.”
“This fear is stealing too many childhoods. Our children can not be sheltered from this reality, and it’s stealing too much trust among neighbors, tearing out our social fabric,” said Timothy Dooner, a pastor at Valley Forge Presbyterian Church.
“Sensing a lot of fear in this room,” said Upper Merion Township resident Paul Arnett, adding that “it seems like there’s a lot being spun up.
“The fear is real, whether you believe it is or not,” a township resident said.
Heightened tensions
Teachers and Upper Merion Area High School students read responses from a survey detailing students’ accounts of their fear and feelings about the contentious issue.
“My students are scared as well,” Jones said. “Some don’t show up for class some days because they don’t feel safe.”
“Upper Merion’s youth are not blind to injustice,” a student said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents have maintained a presence in and around the Montgomery County seat of Norristown since early 2025. Advocates with Montco Community Watch, a grassroots organization focused on documenting immigration enforcement activities, recorded around 150 detentions since June 2025. An ICE spokesperson previously declined to disclose a figure to MediaNews Group.
“Since this past summer, I have watched firsthand the unconstitutional actions of ICE agents in our towns. I have been there,” said Stephanie Vincent, an Upper Merion Township resident and Community for Change Montgomery County’s lead organizer.
“I have stood on the sidewalk documenting what no one should have to document in an American township,” she continued. “I have watched people be stopped with no warrant, no due process and no due regard for their rights or their humanity.”
“As a mother, my deepest fear is not being here to raise my children, and now my government is inflicting that exact reality on other mothers and fathers,” said Upper Merion Township resident Dana Thomson. “If my kids come home from school and I’m not there, they know I just went to the store, but other children are not living that life.”
A ninth-grade student at Upper Merion Area High School revealed she is the daughter of immigrants from Mexico, and said her father was deported when she was 3 years old. She lives in the township with her five siblings, mother and stepfather.
“Ever since families started to get separated from each other, I’m always afraid for my parents to walk outside into the world, especially when they are by themselves, knowing they could be detained by ICE at any time,” the student said.
“As far as children being afraid, please stop talking in front of them (about) sensitive issues,” said Upper Merion Township resident Lisa Rolette, as the room broke out in laughter.
Upper Merion Township Supervisor Greg Philips interjected, shouting, “Hey, hey. That’s uncalled for. Nobody did any of that,” when others were speaking. Rolette picked up where she left off, recommending parents refrain from discussions “in front of their children. They won’t know any better.”
“My three kids back there, I will never lie to you about what’s going on in the world,” said Upper Merion Township resident James Madera.
Resident shares account
Another township resident, identified only as John, said he understood that fear intimately, saying he spent 55 days in detainment.
“I came to the United States legally. I am married to a United States citizen, and I am not a criminal,” John said of his confinement from Jan. 6 to March 2 at the Federal Detention Center in Philadelphia and the Moshannon Valley Processing Center in Philipsburg, Centre County.
“For the first five days at the Federal Detention Center, the water was completely undrinkable. It tasted like it had passed through old, rusty, metallic pipes. I could not drink it,” he said.
“I barely ate. Many days we were served rice, mashed potatoes and oftentimes expired milk,” he said. “I was under the impression that we were just giving food enough to make us survive.”
Officials speak
Officials organized the Thursday evening forum after repeated visits and comments from constituents at Upper Merion Township Board of Supervisors meetings in recent months.
“We feel your pain. We know we have constant discussions about this and how it’s affected our community,” said supervisors Chairwoman Tina Garzillo.
Underscoring “we’re a multicultural community, and we embrace it,” Garzillo said she“felt like there needed to be a bigger platform for residents to be able to speak and to share their concerns, and for us to be able to hear it in one setting.”
Garzillo affirmed the governing body’s support for formal statements made last month by the Police Chiefs Association of Montgomery County, as well as Montgomery County’s District Attorney and Sheriff’s office, whose representatives said they have no affiliation or participation with the Immigration and Nationality Act’s Section 287(g). Upper Merion Township Police Chief Blaine Leis said the department does “not participate in the federal 287g program,” echoing those sentiments.
“First and foremost, the Upper Merion Township Police Department does not enforce federal immigration laws,” Leis said.
“On a daily basis in Upper Merion, officers may encounter individuals who are undocumented,” Leis said. “If those individuals are not involved in criminal activity, our officers do not take action related to immigration status. Our focus remains on maintaining public safety and addressing criminal activity that impacts our community.”
Action demanded
The forum came as area residents and advocates have urged the need for more stringent protections for undocumented at the local and county levels in the form of a “welcoming resolution.”
Several localities have issued immigration-focused policies in the last year, including Ambler, Norristown and West Norriton Township. Montgomery County authorized legislation last week.
Organizing in Upper Merion Township began in late September 2025, advocates say.
“We need a vote, and need to know that there’s accountability for our employees and our township,” Vincent said, adding that residents “have power to create change, and it just takes … showing up.”
Rolette expressed her opposition to such a resolution “asking the township to prevent employees to not side with police — that is against our free will as Americans.” However, proponents of the proposed local legislation made their stipulations known on Thursday.
“This is our chance to affirm who we are as a community, one that builds trust instead of fear,” said Upper Merion Township resident Molly Beyer.
“It is a good sign that there are so many people here coming to you to ask for help, to name their fears and problems, and trusting in your ability to respond in a way that may not be well received with a loud few, but will be graciously received by the many,” Dooner said.
‘Protect every resident’
A majority of public commenters spoke in favor of undocumented immigrants; however, a handful of residents shared differing perspectives.
“Why do we get to choose what laws we break?” said Upper Merion Township resident Lisa Arnett.
“We need to have a good liaison with our own police department because they will be coming,” Paul Arnett said, encouraging officials to “think clearly about what we’re trying to do with uncoupling ICE, the federal government and our local police. They need to be collaborative. They need to be engaged.”
Upper Merion Township resident Mike Napolitan encouraged elected officials and law enforcement to craft a “logical, thought-through policy” that aims to “protect every resident.”
“… That includes bystanders that are protesters. Protesters that may think that they want to get in front of an ICE Vehicle, ICE officers that are in the street trying to do their job, and then the immigrant as well,” he said. “Having a strong police force in our community. Working with ICE to keep everybody safe … so that we don’t have issues like what happened in Minnesota.”
“I think we’re losing the plot. We are humans. Humans deserve to be and to live,” a township resident said.
With tension still in the air, Garzillo offered some closing remarks to those attendees as the roughly 90-minute town hall came to a close.
“Please trust that we’re gonna take all this under consideration and have discussion and try to make the best decisions that are appropriate for our community,” Garzillo said. “This is not the end of this discussion, I promise, and we’ll see what we can do about just guiding this in the proper way.”
