Hundreds of Milwaukee residents packed a town hall meeting at the Vivarium to discuss immigration enforcement concerns and ICE activity, with the event reaching capacity as community members sought resources and answers about fe deral operations. The town hall was organized by Third District Alderman Alex Brower, who represents much of the eastside and Riverwest neighborhoods.He told TMJ4 the event was prompted by large-scale ICE operations that have been unfolding in Minneapolis for nearly a month, along with similar operations in other cities nationwide."I should've booked the Bucks arena," Brower said about the overwhelming turnout.The alderman said he felt compelled to organize the event after witnessing these nationwide developments, as residents expressed deep concerns about federal immigration enforcement activities in Milwaukee and beyond."People are really concerned about what's going on," Brower said. "They want local leaders to take action, because frankly, ICE isn't welcome in this city. Immigrants are welcome." While the event was primarily for Brower's constituents, he emphasized that all community members were welcome to attend. Different organizations, like the Milwaukee Turners, Comit Sin Fronteras, and others, provided resources and information on how to support immigrant communities during the discussion.Representatives from the Milwaukee Police Department were also on hand to address questions from the audience, such as protests surrounding ICE activity.Watch: Packed ICE enforcement town hall in Milwaukee draws praise, criticism ICE operations spark community discussion in Milwaukee's 3rd District"We are going to do our best to de-escalate situations," said Heather Hough, chief of staff for MPD. "However, we cannot obstruct a law enforcement agency from doing law enforcement work."She encouraged attendees to go to the common council's 'Know Your Rights' information guide as well as obtain other resources from groups there on Monday night.Attendees shared concerns about potential large-scale immigration enforcement activity in Milwaukee and discussed ICE operations already underway locally. Some participants mentioned there have been verifications on the southside of the city.Tim Salmon attended the meeting to gather information and explore ways to get involved in community response efforts."Just very concerned about what ICE is doing and tearing our country apart. Want to see what I could do to be a part of stopping them," Salmon said. Salmon found the community response encouraging."It's encouraging to see people pushing back against this, to see that people are not complacent when there's something going on in our community and in our country that we feel is wrong," Salmon said.However, the discussion has drawn criticism from local Republican leadership. Hilario Deleon, chairman of the Republican Party of Milwaukee County, supports ICE operations and expressed concerns about events like the town hall."Local leaders are doing a disservice to the community when they are trying to rile people to go out there and ultimately cosplay as the French resistance as if they're fighting some tyrannical government," Deleon said. Deleon warned against interfering with federal officers."If you're going to impede federal officers from doing their job or just a local police officer from doing their job, you are going to get arrested," Deleon said.As similar town halls begin appearing across the community, the debate continues over whether these meetings benefit residents or create unnecessary tension around federal immigration enforcement taking place nationwide.You can watch the full town hall above.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.Its about time to watch on your time. Stream local news and weather 24/7 by searching for TMJ4 on your device.Available for download on Roku, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV, and more.Report a typo or error // Submit a news tip ...read more read less