North Penn High School students participate in a walk out on Feb. 6, 2026 in Towamencin Township in protest of immigration enforcement. Photo by Rachel Ravina | The Reporter.
North Wales welcoming resolution 'still under review'
A suggested resolution in North Wales meant to oppose federal immigration enforcement efforts is still on the drawing board and is catching attention from neighbors.
Town officials gave an update Tuesday night on a proposed “welcoming resolution,” and said to stay tuned for further talks later this month.
“Two weeks ago, we had a gentleman who came in to ask North Wales to look into possibly putting together a resolution for the town as a welcoming community,” said council President Mark Tarlecki.
“At this point, the resolution and the discussion is still under review,” he said.
In January a resident made public comments to council asking that they consider a similar resolution to those that have been discussed and passed in several other Montgomery County municipalities, in the wake of headlines and controversies across the country regarding federal immigration enforcement efforts. The resident requested the town formally prohibit borough police from honoring ICE detainers without a judicial warrant signed by a judge and to ensure borough staff do not inquire about or disclose immigration status during routine business.
Since that first request, protestors and county officials have taken aim at recent ICE enforcement actions across the county, and students at North Penn High School held a walkout of classes Friday to protest the federal enforcement actions and show support for those affected.
In North Wales, an item listing “Discussion: Welcoming resolution” was listed on council’s agenda for Feb. 10, but no text of any draft was included in council’s meeting materials. Tarlecki kicked off a brief discussion by saying the board was open to feedback.
“We are here to take any comments from anyone in the audience, and will come back in a couple of weeks, and hopefully have a decision at that point of what we’re going to be doing,” he said.
“We are not making any comments at this point. We’re going to keep it for discussion when we get to the 24th,” he said.
No pubic comments were fielded from residents on the topic, and council then moved to other business. Later in the meeting, town solicitor John Filice said council had held an executive session prior to the meeting “to discuss a legal matter,” and took no action, but did not specify the topic.
Upper Gwynedd
In neighboring Upper Gwynedd, the topic also came up this week: Resident Carl Smith referenced the North Wales discussion, asking township commissioners whether they planned to have a similar conversation.
“I think it was an attempt to make illegal immigration, or those who are participating in that, feel more welcome,” Smith said. “If we’re going to have a discussion about these things that are going on nationally, at the local level, and it seems like that’s starting to happen, we need to have an honest one.”
Smith then read a quote he said was from former President Barack Obama in 2010 warning of the dangers of illegal immigration, before noting that federal immigration official Tom Homan was commended for similar immigration enforcement efforts under that administration, then made comparisons between protestors against immigration efforts in Minnesota and those who protested the certification of the 2020 election at the U.S Capitol on January 6, 2021.
“We, locally, are going to have to decide, from the way I’m hearing things discussed, if we’re going to be a country that follows the law, or if we just selectively choose the ones we want to adhere to. And that, by definition, is lawlessness,” he said.
Towamencin
In Towamencin Township, supervisors heard one comment along the same lines Wednesday night as resident Rich Costlow asked if the board could pass qualifications for non-township law enforcement personnel to work locally.
“There are things going on in this country right now, that I think reflect some activity from individuals who are poorly trained, perhaps poorly led, and for whom there is a fair amount of public mistrust,” Costlow said.
“I would like to see Towamencin Township pass an ordinance that requires anybody that wants to do law enforcement in this township be a graduate of a police academy, whether it’s Philadelphia, or state police, or whatever,” he said.
Costlow added that the township’s police department has earned accreditation status from the state chiefs of police association since 2012, and said he wrote a letter to police and township staff last fall noting how safe he has felt in the four-plus decades he has lived there.
“My understanding is that a lot of the training can be as short as 47 days for the people who are doing things in Minnesota, and I think it is creating a certain amount of chaos. I don’t want to see that come here to Towamencin Township,” he said.
“I think passing an ordinance that would preclude any law enforcement activity taking place in Towamencin that is not done by people who are trained in law enforcement, trained in de-escalation — I think (township police) have earned the public trust. So I ask you to consider that,” Costlow said.
No other comments were made during either meeting on the topic.
North Wales borough council next meets at 7 p.m. on Feb. 24 at the borough municipal building, 300 School Street, for more information or meeting agendas visit www.NorthWalesborough.org. Upper Gwynedd’s commissioners next meet at 7 p.m. on March 3 at that township’s administration building, 1 Parkside Place; for more information visit www.UpperGwynedd.org. Towamencin’s supervisors next meet at 7 p.m. on Feb. 25 at that township’s administration building, 1090 Troxel Road; for more information visit www.Towamencin.org.
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