Icy ICE Protest Draws Dozens to Pottsville Tuesday

It was icy cold on Tuesday afternoon but it didn’t stop several dozen people from attending a demonstration in Pottsville against (and for) the recent actions of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Demonstrators on both sides of the argument gathered on Garfield Square Tuesday.

Several dozen opponents of ICE and the Trump administration gathered near the monuments in the Square. They carried signs and chanted in unison, expressing their opposition to the President and ICE.

Meanwhile, a group of about a dozen counter-protestors voiced their support for the President and ICE from across W. Market St.

Some counter-protestors even drove around the square, taking to a loudspeaker to heckle the anti-ICE group in the monument park.

Both groups braved frigid air that dipped into the low teens on Tuesday. The protest, however, got heated at times as the opposing sides spent the better part of an hour shouting their opinions back and forth at each other.

“I’m tired of everyone acting like this is normal. I was born and raised in Schuylkill County and I hate that this is the norm here, that people just accept this like this is the way it should be when I don’t think it should be,” one woman from Pottsville told The Canary on Tuesday. “I don’t believe in the concept of illegal immigration.”

One protestor – and rather infamous local online personality – told The Canary he sees parallels between the current climate to a time in the past.

“I’m not forgetting when this s**t ended last time,” protestor Ed Palamar, of Pottsville, said.

When we asked him of what s**t he spoke, Palamar said, “Fascism. Hitler. What do you think Trump is? He’s a Nazi. I know the difference between socialism, fascism, communism, totalitarianism.”

Jessica Simkulet, of Orwigsburg, said she believes there needs to be immigration reform but the way Trump is going about it is not right.

“This is not the way to do it,” she said. “Without due process, you can just take anybody off the street. And now we’re using racial profiling to et these people and (ICE agents) are masked. They’re basically just like military goons.”

Krista Kantner, also of Orwigsburg, believes the Trump administration is not abiding by the Constitution through its actions, especially in the way it’s handling ICE detainees.

“I’m worried about the future of our country. The Constitution is not being followed,” she said. “People in our country who are living here don’t have right to due process. That should be a given but it’s been thrown by the wayside.”

^{Photos: Coal Region Canary}

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