Montco Commissioners say they are walking a ‘tightrope’ while considering protections for immigrants and LGBTQ residents
Several residents urged the county to consider the policies at a board meeting Thursday.
Neighbor after neighbor, Montgomery County residents approached the dais Thursday at the county’s biweekly board of commissioners meeting with one primary request.
They wanted the county to approve a welcoming-county ordinance that would commit the county to support immigrant residents and refuse to cooperate with federal immigration authorities.
“Immigrants are also our neighbors, they’re also our friends, and they’re very vulnerable right now,” said Randy Libros, who, like many who spoke at the meeting, lives in Cheltenham. “We really want to know that our county cares.”
“We must have some sort of umbrella protection for them, not programs here and there,” Amy Freed added.
Tom Petersen, another Cheltenham resident, asked the commissioners directly: Would they consider a welcoming city ordinance?
“The answer is absolutely,” responded Neil Makhija, a Democrat who chairs the board.
At the meeting, which was held in Lower Merion, Montgomery County’s governing board said they were open to and considering options for both a welcoming city ordinance protecting immigrants and a local nondiscrimination ordinance expanding protections to LGBTQ residents.
But timing and details of the policies are unclear as Makhija and fellow Democratic commissioner Jamila Winder said they are discussing legal options with county attorneys and contemplating threats of retaliation from President Donald Trump’s administration.
“This is a tightrope that we are on,” Winder said. “We don’t want to be in a position to lose federal funds but we can’t change our values because the president of the United States changes.”
As the Trump administration has taken on aggressive immigration enforcement, at times deporting residents who were legally residing in the United States, immigration advocates have encouraged local governments to approve “welcoming city” ordinances barring law enforcement interaction with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and adopting local policies aimed at supporting immigrants.
The policies closely mirror “sanctuary city” policies adopted by cities including Philadelphia during Trump’s first term, but the new name has become popular as the administration has vowed to target sanctuary cities.
Earlier this year, Montgomery County hired Nelly Jiménez-Arévalo to be the county’s first director of immigrant affairs, a move Makhija said would be a first step toward ensuring immigrants could feel supported and protected interacting with county services. According to U.S. Census Bureau data, just over 11% of the county’s population is foreign-born.
Makhija and Winder said they have been in touch with several immigrant advocacy organizations and county attorneys to determine what more the county could do.
The one Republican on the board, Tom DiBello, did not comment on the requests.
After another resident, Elizabeth Landon, urged the board to also think about protecting LGBTQ residents, Makhija said that he was having discussions about whether it would be legally possible to enact a nondiscrimination ordinance in the county.
After the meeting, Petersen said he was optimistic about the commissioners’ response on immigration, but that he planned to continue attending meetings to apply pressure.
“We have to take a strong stand and so I would certainly hope that they would look at some language for a welcoming act,” he said.