{"id":97232,"date":"2026-01-26T17:04:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:04:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/97232\/"},"modified":"2026-01-26T17:04:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-26T17:04:09","slug":"protesters-come-out-for-mlk-against-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/97232\/","title":{"rendered":"Protesters come out for MLK against ICE"},"content":{"rendered":"

Delaware County locals came out on Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday afternoon to again protest alleged U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activities after images appeared online over the weekend of what were claimed to be ICE agents in Upper Darby.<\/p>\n

Messages left at the ICE Philadelphia Field Office and for Upper Darby elected officials were not returned Monday.<\/p>\n

The social media posts mostly showed agents in parking lots or gathering on streets, and it was before any snow fell. There were no confirmed reports of anyone being taken into custody as of Monday afternoon.<\/p>\n

The Daily Times is not able to confirm whether the images are of ICE agents in Upper Darby.<\/p>\n

The Daily Times has, however, spoken with members of Upper Darby council who said they have first-hand knowledge of township residents being picked up by ICE.<\/p>\n

There is also a documented case of a resident being taken into custody and dying three days later.<\/p>\n

\"ImagesImages gathered from TikTok allegedly show ICE agents convening in Upper Darby over the weekend. (Courtesy TikTok)<\/p>\n

Delaware County District Attorney Tanner Rouse said that neither he nor Police Superintendent Timothy Bernhardt had gotten any word from ICE or the Department of Homeland Security about agents conducting raids in the area, but to do so without alerting local law enforcement would be \u201cabsolutely reckless\u201d and put everyone involved at greater risk.<\/p>\n

Those gathered at the four corners of Lansdowne Avenue and Baltimore Pike in Lansdowne beginning at noon Monday made clear with signs that they do not want ICE conducting operations in the area. They were met with a cacophony of blaring horns from passing vehicles signaling agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cNormally we\u2019re out here Tuesdays at noon and Sundays, so Monday, MLK, is not a day off, it\u2019s a day on,\u201d said Harry Kalish of Lansdowne, one of the first to arrive for Monday\u2019s protest in Lansdowne.<\/p>\n

Hundreds of others also marched in Philadelphia on Monday from the city\u2019s immigration court at Ninth and Market streets to the ICE Philadelphia Field Office at 114 N. Eighth St.<\/p>\n

Kalish, joined by Ellen Crockett of Vermont, said he was there to protest the \u201cnasty cruelty, cowardice and all that\u201d of the second term of President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n

Others quickly joined them, including Laurie Wolfe, also of Lansdowne, who said ICE had been doing \u201creally, really, really un-American things,\u201d including the killing of Renee Good in Minneapolis, which sparked outrage and a renewed sense of urgency around protests earlier this month.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m particularly concerned for our democracy, and our community, and our Constitution,\u201d said one woman nearby who identified herself only as Eliza. \u201cWe\u2019ve been coming out for a long time, but obviously the killing of Renee Good and the escalation, the possible escalation of troops into Minneapolis, and the threats against Greenland, all of those go to the core of what makes us American. \u2026 There\u2019s a vision of America that I feel we are destroying.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eliza said the number of honking cars has increased in the time she has been making regular pilgrimages to the protest spot over several months, while those yelling derogatory comments has dwindled significantly.<\/p>\n

She was unsure whether the rumors of Philadelphia being considered as the next city ICE would target with a Minneapolis-like surge are true, noting there are only about 20,000 ICE agents nationally, so it has to be done on a sort of a \u201cone-city-at-a-time\u201d basis.<\/p>\n

If true, Eliza said ICE agents would obviously extend into Philly\u2019s first-ring suburbs, but either way, she plans to continue coming out to protest.<\/p>\n

Across the street, Joe Parsio, who said he is a Vietnam War veteran, said the group comes out twice a week for people who might be feeling discouraged.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey think that maybe they\u2019re the only one who feels that way anymore, because they see what\u2019s going on, and we\u2019re here to remind them that they\u2019re not alone, that there are other people that feel the same way they do, and we\u2019re hoping that it will help them vote the right way,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"VietnamVietnam War Veteran Joe Parsio said he makes his service known to political opponents who denigrate the left as anti-military. (ALEX ROSE – DAILY TIMES)<\/p>\n

Parsio said he tries to make sure that he notes his veteran status whenever he posts online because it seems to carry a little more weight with his \u201csupposedly pro-military\u201d political opponents.<\/p>\n

\u201cI like to remind them that a lot of people served their country, but they don\u2019t like what\u2019s going on in it,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s not what we\u2019re supposed to be. \u2026 Our military and our police forces are supposed to serve and protect, and that\u2019s not really what ICE is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not law enforcement,\u201d put in Frank Corcoran, a fellow Vietnam vet who said he served in the Marines. \u201cThese ICE thugs, Nazi, Gestapo. These are hardcore racist white supremacists, that\u2019s all they are. They put a vest on them, give them some guns, and they\u2019re murdering people. Outright murdering people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"ProtestersProtesters in Lansdowne on Monday afternoon (ALEX ROSE -DAILY TIMES)<\/p>\n

United States Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, a former personal lawyer for Trump, has indicated there would be no investigation into Jonathan Ross, the ICE agent who fatally shot Good in the head and chest during an incident in Minneapolis.<\/a><\/p>\n

Parady La, an Upper Darby man who legally came from Cambodia with his family at age 2 in 1981, died from apparent withdrawal symptoms Jan. 9 in a hospital while in federal custody in Philadelphia. His family claims his obvious medical needs were ignored by ICE.<\/a><\/p>\n

One witness likewise called attention to the death of Geraldo Lunas Campos, 55, originally of Cuba, who a witness said was tackled by guards and put in a chokehold in Texas on Jan. 3.<\/a><\/p>\n

ICE also reported another inmate at that same facility, Victor Manuel Diaz, 36, originally of Nicaragua, died of suicide.<\/p>\n

It is unclear whether federal agencies plan to launch any deeper investigations into any of those deaths.<\/p>\n

Corcoran said these are dark days, especially for his generation, who has been protesting war, inequality and racism for more than 50 years. He said it is incumbent upon Democrats in Congress now to stall as much as possible in a role reversal from the latter part of Barrack Obama\u2019s presidency, and for Americans to continue to voice their opposition.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe got to get out in the streets, we just do,\u201d he said. \u201cWe need millions of people in the street. It\u2019s so depressing that it\u2019s not happening. We need to mobilize. We need a general strike is what we need. \u2026Maybe today, I don\u2019t know, maybe that Martin Luther King thing will get them going. They\u2019ll pick something up and they\u2019ll start coming out for nonviolent protest.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Delaware County locals came out on Martin Luther King Jr. Day on Monday afternoon to again protest alleged…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97233,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[212,27402,182,139,28,210,147,149,148,150],"class_list":["post-97232","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-upper-darby","tag-delaware-county","tag-lansdowne","tag-local-news","tag-news","tag-pennsylvania","tag-top-stories-dtd","tag-upper-darby","tag-upper-darby-headlines","tag-upper-darby-news","tag-upper-darby-township"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97232","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97232"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97232\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97233"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}