Tensions rise in Pa. over ICE tactics, as trainings and protests draw crowds

On Tuesday, as hundreds poured into Shadyside Presbyterian Church in the bitter cold to attend training on how to document immigration arrests in the area, a white Sprinter van idled across the street with its lights off.

Two men in matching tan camouflage and military-style vests sat in the van, eyeing the church as a pair of women walked by.

One of the women stopped to peer through the driver-side window, then raised her middle finger toward the windshield.

"They're ICE," she said, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, when asked about the gesture.

Pittsburgh police had a cruiser stationed across from the church throughout most of the event, held by immigration advocacy group Frontline Dignity. Participants learned how to become "ethical witnesses" of the federal government's ongoing deportation campaign.

City police could not confirm whether ICE was on the scene, saying they were "not apprised of their actions in the city." ICE officials did not respond Saturday to requests for comment.

From training events to government meetings, there's evidence that tensions continue to rise across Pennsylvania following the fatal shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis earlier this month and ongoing incidents there where demonstrators clash with the federal government. Federal agents on Saturday shot and killed another person in Minneapolis.

Locally, Coraopolis Borough Council terminated its police department's partnership with ICE on Jan. 15 in a close vote after listening to testimony from residents both opposed and in favor of the deal. The day prior, Bucks County did the same.

"The primary motivation behind my decision to re-evaluate my office's ICE partnership was truly the heartbreaking feedback I received from leaders in immigrant communities," Bucks County Sheriff Danny Ceisler, who was sworn in earlier this month, said during a press conference. "From the day this office signed up to have deputies perform immigration enforcement, immigrants began living in even greater fear than they were before."

On Thursday, four Pennsylvania House Democrats introduced legislation that would route all complaints against Immigration and Customs Enforcement to the state Human Relations Commission.

"Unfortunately, reports of masked ICE agents targeting communities grow daily," said state Rep Abigail Salisbury, D-Swissvale, who was among those who introduced the bill. "By authorizing the PHRC to receive and document complaints and refer them to the state Attorney General, we can bring greater transparency and accountability to these actions.

It's not just those opposing the immigration raids who have spoken out.

The Pittsburgh Republican Committee recently demanded to know whether taxpayer dollars were being used to fund training programs that encourage resisting or interfering with federal law enforcement.

"Pittsburgh residents expect their tax dollars to support public safety and lawful civic education — not programs that teach people how to obstruct officers carrying out their sworn duties," Todd McCollum, chairman of the City of Pittsburgh Republican Committee, said in a statement Monday.

"There is a line between peaceful protest and actions that endanger lives, and taxpayer funding should never cross it."

The statement came after the Pittsburgh Commission on Human Relations advertised an event that promoted "tactical training in the art of civil disobedience" in a since-deleted post on social media.

In a statement to the Post-Gazette, Rachel Shepherd, executive director of the PghCHR, said the GOP concerns were unfounded.

"No, we are not using taxpayer dollars to fund training programs that promote resistance to law enforcement or encourage strategic interference with federal authorities, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement," Shepherd said. "We did not pay for, host, sponsor or participate in any such event."

Meanwhile, a growing number of people in the Pittsburgh area and across the state have been mobilizing. At least 500 people packed Shadyside Presbyterian on Tuesday to hear about a growing rapid response network that aims to send volunteers to document — and preferably film — immigration enforcement operations and arrests.

Frontline Dignity founder Jaime Martinez said he received multiple reports from volunteers that ICE officers were stationed outside Tuesday's training session, although it wasn't confirmed.

Martinez said he was undeterred by the potential for ICE agents to show up at events and added that his group remains committed to documenting the agency's actions throughout the region.

"It doesn't scare us," he said. "Everything we're doing is within the bounds of the law."

In July, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during a press conference in Tampa, Fla., that violence against ICE agents was on the rise and included "anything that threatens them and their safety, so it is doxing them, it's videotaping them where they're at when they're out on operations, encouraging other people to come and to throw things, rocks, bottles."

Anti-ICE advocates in Pittsburgh and elsewhere continue to assert that the public is legally allowed to film immigration enforcement operations as long as they do not interfere.

That's what some Frontline Dignity volunteers intended to do when they sprang into action Thursday as word began to spread that ICE agents had been spotted in Cranberry.

Township resident Isaac Elias, 43, said he spent about two hours driving around to confirm whether the reports were true, but he never saw any sign of the federal agency.

Hours later, KDKA published footage that appeared to show immigration agents and Butler County sheriff's deputies arresting people at a Cranberry construction site.

"It's hard, because I think they have adapted and they know they need to get in and get out quickly and it seems as if they are doing that, using the element of surprise to pop up and grab people," Elias said.

Elias has been trying to document ICE activities for months; he was arrested and charged with disorderly conduct while doing so in Ambridge last summer. Those charges were dropped in September.

He has since filed a federal lawsuit alleging First Amendment violations. The suit remains pending in U.S. District Court in Pittsburgh, and he said he plans to continue trying to track the agency.

"I'm a veteran of Iraq and Afghanistan, and I did my time defending this country and all the rights owed to its citizens," he said. "No one is going to take those rights away from me without a fight."

On Friday, more than a hundred demonstrators held a protest at Target in East Liberty to demand that the retailer speak out against ICE after a clip was circulated on social media that showed federal agents tackling and detaining two Target employees in Richfield, Minn.

"We have to call this out and we have to stop it immediately," said Guillermo Perez, a volunteer with immigrant nonprofit Casa San Jose, which helped to organize the demonstration.

Perez said Casa San Jose's own rapid response network — built last year — has continued to spread following Good's death and, that while tracking immigration raids and arrests is becoming increasingly difficult, the organization remains committed to the cause.

"We have no doubt ICE is trying to give us bad information in terms of where they are, but we have the numbers to overcome that," he said. "We have hundreds in our rapid response network and it's only growing."

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