Bethlehem community mobilizes to protest ICE raid

Community members gathered outside of the Five 10 Flats apartments on Thursday evening to protest a recent United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid that detained 17 people on Wednesday. 

The detained individuals had been working on the building’s reconstruction after a fire on May 2 that damaged the complex. 

The protest, organized by North Side Bethlehem resident Mary Walsh, included hundreds of participants who chanted while marching from the apartment complex on East Third Street to Bethlehem City Hall, all calling for the immediate release of those detained.

Walsh said the lack of action in the Lehigh Valley motivated her to take a stand. When she noticed no one in the area had begun organizing, she decided to reach out to everyone she knew, including musicians, artists and activists.

A protester is pictured holding a sign that reads, “Don’t bite the hands that feed you,” at Bethlehem City Hall. Participants gathered around speakers who led chants. (Mariel Kavanagh/B&W Staff)

“(The raid) felt so surreal,” Walsh said. “I’ve heard a lot of silence from the Lehigh Valley and I didn’t feel that sense of urgency, and given that we are a diverse community, I felt a lot of fear because it’s our community and our people we need to protect.” 

She said while she sparked the idea, she wouldn’t have been able to organize the demonstration without help.

Walsh said protests happening around the country against ICE go beyond politics.

“To me, it’s not so much politics, it’s humanity,” she said. “We’re simply asking for people to see the humanity and to see that each of the people who were kidnapped live in our country, illegal or not, and that means they have rights.”  

Outside of the Five 10 Flats, community members listened to Bethlehem resident Karen Vasquez share personal stories about the impact of the raid. 

Among the crowd was Father Jon Stratton, the dean of the Cathedral Church of the Nativity and a member of the Lehigh Valley Immigration Emergency Response Network.

A protester is pictured outside Bethlehem City Hall. The remaining participants stood on the edge of East Church Street chanting. (Mariel Kavanagh/B&W Staff)

Stratton said the network is a coalition with goals to support immigrant communities, influence local legislation to formally recognize the region as a welcoming community and build a rapid response team that can mobilize quickly when there is ICE activity.  

He said it was ironic that the detainees were providing services to the community when they were taken and pulled from their work site, homes and families.

Stratton also said the raid was cruel and immoral, and the network wanted to ensure they were standing up for their neighbors rather than turning a blind eye. 

When the network first received word of the raid, the group mobilized quickly, but it was nearly over by the time they arrived at the site.

Stratton said it’s necessary to humanize what’s happening and to practice empathy, recognizing those being taken are mothers, fathers, brothers and sisters. 

Lehigh students also showed up to participate in the protest. 

Heidi Bauer, ‘28, drove more than an hour from her home to Bethlehem to support the demonstration.

Protesters are pictured holding signs and waving an American flag. Participants chanted at passing cars in support of those detained. (Mariel Kavanagh/B&W Staff)

“I came to support not just my local community, but for the entire nation,” Bauer said. “We’re at a trivial time in which we’re all facing the dangers of an authoritarian regime, and it’s not just us sticking up for the marginalized, it’s us sticking up for ourselves.”

Bauer saw videos of the raid on the Lehigh Daily’s Instagram page and said it was the last thing she expected, but it also was a reminder that while many may believe raids won’t happen in their own community, in reality, they can happen right in their backyard. 

She said attending the protest was her way of showing she won’t stand by and accept the actions of the current administration. 

“I’m a proud American, but I’m not proud of the federal government right now, and I want to show our neighbors that we stand in solidarity and solidarity has no border,” Bauer said. 

She also expressed a broader vision for change, including integrity from the federal government and care for dignity for not just legal citizens, but also undocumented immigrants.

A protester is pictured outside the Five 10 Flats holding a sign that reads, “America needs immigrants.” The protest began at the apartment building and continued while participants marched to Bethlehem City Hall. (Mariel Kavanagh/B&W Staff)

“I want to see a care for dignity because at the end of the day, no human is illegal,” she said.

While Bauer called for national change, others emphasized the need for local awareness and action. 

Bethlehem resident Alex Miller said because Bethlehem is a smaller metropolitan area, it can be easier for people to ignore national issues that may feel far away or are often associated with demonstrations in cities like Los Angeles, New York City or Washington D.C. 

But Wednesday’s raid, he said, hit home and made him realize that everyone in Bethlehem needs to mobilize, not just those in major metropolitan areas.  

“These are just people who are here and can’t get papers because they’re not rich enough,” Miller said. “It’s really harrowing, and it was people literally rebuilding our community.” 

Heidi Bauer, ‘28, is pictured outside the Five 10 Flats after driving more than an hour to participate in the protest. She said she came to support not only the Bethlehem community, but the entire nation. (Mariel Kavanagh/B&W Staff)

He said there’s no place for hatred or the growing list of federal issues seen under the Trump administration and called ICE’s actions dehumanizing. He also said people need to show up, protest and be willing to disrupt the status quo. 

“Start thinking how it could always be you,” Miller said. “For people that look like me, (deportation) doesn’t cross your mind, but if your best friends are transgender or people of color, some of you need to really clamp down.” 

He said people part of marginalized communities may not feel safe in current times, which is further indicative of the need to mobilize and protest. 

The event briefly encountered disruption when a masked man shouted at protesters to step into the street attempting to provoke conflict, but the demonstration was otherwise peaceful. 

The protest concluded around 8:30 p.m. outside of Bethlehem City Hall, where participants joined another ongoing rally in support of releasing the detained.