Police line Credit: Daniel Provisions / Flickr.com
A King of Prussia intersection was filled with people Wednesday evening who gathered to mourn the loss of a 37-year-old woman killed in Minnesota.
The demonstration at the intersection of U.S. Route 202 and Henderson Road during the evening commuter rush came hours after news of the death of Renee Nicole Macklin Good, who was fatally shot by a U.S. Immigration Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis, according to The Associated Press.
The incident sparked protests across the nation, including one in Montgomery County.
“We decided to go out there, and whoever would come out … and speak up against this injustice and say we want ICE to be gone, that our streets are not safer, they’re making us unsafe, and we’re done,” said Stephanie Vincent, Montgomery County’s lead organizer for Community for Change.
Anger and sadness
The roughly two-hour demonstration came about organically, Vincent said, hours after she learned of the events in the Midwestern city.
“It’s kind of hard to even put into words the emotion and the upset and that has rocked everybody since then,” Vincent said in an interview Thursday morning, as she observed a “mixture of anger and upset and sadness” at the protest.
Vincent estimated between 40 and 50 people in attendance as demonstrators held signs and chanted against the escalated immigration enforcement operations over the past year that became a cornerstone of President Donald Trump’s second term. Some also brought candles to mourn Good, who according to media reports, was a U.S. citizen and legal observer and who was not the target of federal immigration agents.
“There [were] a lot of hugs and a lot of crying,” Vincent said of the local gathering.
Montco Community Watch, a grassroots organization focused on documenting immigration enforcement activities, noted members have recorded instances of nearly 100 detentions as of early December. Vincent deemed their work essential, stressing that “we can’t allow injustice to happen in the dark.”
‘That could be me’
Vincent is among several hundred volunteers across Montgomery County who are involved in rapid response efforts.
“A lot of people see themselves in Renee,” Vincent said. “As someone who is an organizer for rapid response, all I could do, think about last night was picture each one of our volunteers, and think about … that could be them that got shot. That could be me that got shot."
“That’s a lot to hold,” she continued. “It’s not just anger, it’s also sadness, and also, just that depth of the identification of what you’re doing every day is what this woman was doing when she got shot.”
Some 2,000 agents were in Minneapolis as a result of the heightened immigration enforcement tactics issued by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, according to the Associated Press. Wednesday’s incident was caught on camera in a residential area and has been widely circulated on social media.
More than 1,125 miles away in the Montgomery County seat of Norristown, county Commissioners’ Chairwoman Jamila Winder said that “yesterday’s killing of a woman in Minneapolis was a tragic incident.”
“We can –and should– be outraged and heartbroken that this death occurred at the hands of the federal government,” Winder said during her opening comments at Thursday’s board meeting.
“When we first started doing this work in the beginning of July, it was scary to have to try to legally observe these ICE officers,” Vincent said. “But what’s been terrifying over the last six months is that it’s just gotten more and more dangerous because they’ve gotten more and more aggressive…”
Vincent at a press conference on Dec. 4, 2025 sought to “sound the alarm bell” about the 97 verified detentions and another 30 suspected detentions compiled in recent months. While an ICE spokesperson previously declined to disclose the number of local detainments, immigration advocates blasted the conduct of federal agents who’ve had a presence in and around the Montgomery County seat of Norristown.
“They drive recklessly in the streets. They impersonate local law enforcement. They routinely break the windows of vehicles that they pull over on traffic stops, which they shouldn’t even be doing as civil law enforcement. They wear masks to hide their identity and escape accountability,” Vincent said in December 2025.
Fourteen undocumented immigrants were detained in July 2025 at a West Norriton Township supermarket as witnesses observed dozens of agents donning masks and military gear swarm the parking lot in one of the area’s more visible raids.
Area residents have spoken during public comment meetings at Norristown Municipal Council meetings, pressing elected officials about public safety and the need to be able to trust local leaders, law enforcement and first responders in Norristown.
Trusting police
Norristown Police Chief Mike Trail said in an interview Thursday that “what happened yesterday in Minneapolis is extremely concerning to us here.”
Trail, who was sworn in in November 2025, previously said the department “does not engage with immigration enforcement activities by any means.” He acknowledged Thursday that “our residents are concerned when local police are present with ICE,” however, Trail has “long maintained their presence there is necessary to keep the peace.”
Immigration advocates have repeatedly called for the Montgomery County government and its 62 boroughs, municipalities and townships to enact “welcoming policies” of their own in an effort to offer further protections to undocumented immigrants.
Locally, Ambler and Norristown, along with Abington, Cheltenham, Springfield, and West Norriton townships have established related policies, according to advocates, who emphasized the need for the entire county to stand united on this issue.
Winder and Montgomery County Commissioners’ Vice Chairman Neil Makhija, both Democrats, vowed not to deputize local law enforcement to carry out federal immigration enforcement actions and the county has issued a policy on employee communication practices. Montgomery County Solicitor Benjamin Field previously noted that Montgomery County’s “2A County” status does not permit elected officials to “make rules for all the municipalities within our county,” but area residents have nonetheless returned to meeting after meeting for the past several months continuing to ask officials to pass a welcoming policy.
“We just want people to be safe. We just want the community to be safe, and we just want this injustice and this horrible assault on our neighborhoods to stop,” Vincent said.
Communication is key
Vincent said that advocates have felt “completely isolated” in their quest to establish productive relationships and develop legislation pertaining to undocumented individuals. Vincent stressed “open lines of communication” across multiple levels in order to “have a plan” is paramount amid what she described as a “crisis that’s only going to continue to get worse.” Large scale operations have taken place in Charlotte, Chicago and New Orleans, while National Guard troops have been present in Memphis, Portland and Washington, D.C.
“My biggest, deepest concern is mass enforcement. What’s happening in Minneapolis … that could happen here,” Vincent said. “If they come to Philadelphia en masse, they will be here in Montgomery County, too, and I’m very afraid for that when that happens.”
“We’re very concerned about the things that go on in the country,” Trail said.
Adopting a “think globally, act locally” mindset, Trail said the municipal law enforcement agency is “monitoring” events across the country and said he has “contingency plans” ready, though he was not at liberty to disclose them. Trail also cautioned demonstrators from “impeding federal law enforcement officers and tactics of blocking vehicles.”
“[I] do not want to see a tragedy take place in our community that we saw and witnessed yesterday,” Trail said.
While communities remain on edge, Vincent expected resistance efforts wouldn’t waiver for thousands of people across the nation.
“As much as you would think that something like this would fear people into stopping, I actually believe it’s quite the opposite,” Vincent said. “I think the people that do this work are not going to stand down because of fear. If that were the case, we would have never started.
“If people weren’t out there recording what happened yesterday, people wouldn’t see what actually happened,” she continued. “I don’t think this is going to deter anybody. If anything, it’s going to only determine us more to keep up, keep going.”
