State, federal legislators condemn ICE raid at West Norriton supermarket

State and federal lawmakers expressed shock and dismay when learning 14 undocumented individuals were detained by federal immigration authorities earlier this week at a supermarket in West Norriton Township.

The incident sent shockwaves through the area as witnesses observed a number of vehicles and more than two dozen agents donning masks and military gear swarm the parking lot of a shopping center containing the Super Gigante – West Norriton Farmers Market, located at 1930 W. Main St.

As areas in and around the county seat of Norristown have seen increased immigration enforcement activity in recent weeks, state Sen. Maria Collett, D-12th Dist., and state Rep. Steve Malagari, D-53rd Dist., condemned the actions in a joint statement issued Friday.

“There can be no question that the militarized raids we have witnessed in grocery stores, apartment complexes, and street corners across Montgomery County are a betrayal of our shared American values,” said Collett and Malagari in the written statement.

Advocates, community members and elected officials have raised repeated concerns about the increased ICE activities and whether agents are following established protocol. Several people have claimed agents are not producing judicial warrants when detaining residents or following other legal requirements.

“For due process to be bypassed or given reluctantly when pressed — that’s completely un-American. These arrests threaten all of us. Everyone should be angry, personally offended and compelled to seek out now against this fundamentally cruel mode of behavior,” said state Rep. Joe Webster, D-150th Dist. in a statement posted Thursday to X. Webster’s legislative district includes West Norriton Township, where the supermarket is located.

“When our core values are undermined by those in power and hidden behind masks, we must pledge liberty and justice FOR ALL,” Webster said.

Unides Para Servir Norristown’s social media accounts indicated heightened immigration enforcement outside the county seat, which has been spotlighted in recent weeks in places including Ambler, Conshohocken, Hatfield, and Pottstown. A vigil was held Wednesday evening in the supermarket parking lot.

With respect to Wednesday’s incident in West Norriton Township, a U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement spokesperson confirmed to MediaNews Group that agents from several federal agencies “conducted a federal court-authorized search” at the Montgomery County-based supermarket.

“During the execution of the search warrant, 14 individuals were encountered who did not have legal status to be in the United States. These 14 individuals were taken into ICE custody pending removal proceedings,” an ICE spokesperson said in a statement.

Collett and Malagari aimed to offer their support to “our friends and neighbors who are now afraid to even leave their homes” amid increased activity.

“When masked agents target hardworking members of our community, not dangerous criminals as they claim, we will not remain silent,” their joint statement read. “When our neighbors are being arrested and detained based on their heritage, occupation, or language and ripped from their families without the due process they are owed, we stand united against this cruelty and intimidation.”

U.S. Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-4th Dist. took to social media to share her reactions to what took place at the Super Gigante – West Norriton Farmers Market.

“I am greatly disturbed by the activities of ICE in my area,” Dean said in a video posted to her Instagram account Friday afternoon, noting an influx of messages to her office concerning the local immigration enforcement activity.

“Masked folks, unidentified cars coming in and taking people,” Dean said, as part of “the horrific raids that are taking people out of their homes, out of their places of work, that are terrifying families and children.”

“This is unacceptable. This comes from something like a gulag. This is not who we are as Americans,” she said.