An Allentown woman who police say was called to the scene of a traffic stop that was being conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials and police in the 1600 block of Main Street Friday morning was herself arrested on an outstanding drug-related warrant from Lehigh County, Hellertown Police said Monday.
In a news release, police said Jennifer E. Walker, 46, “was called to the scene by one of the family members” who was a subject of the ICE stop.
Police said “four immigrants were involved” in the traffic stop.
As of Monday there was no information posted on the ICE website about Friday’s action in Hellertown or whether the immigrants were taken into custody.
Once Walker was on the scene, police said officers reviewed her credentials and discovered the warrant for failure to appear in Lehigh County Court.
Walker was then taken into custody and released to the custody of the Lehigh County Sheriff’s Department, who transported her to Lehigh County Prison, police said.
According to Lehigh County Court records, a bench warrant was issued for Walker on June 26, 2017, in a case in which she is charged with misdemeanor possession of a small amount of marijuana and misdemeanor possession of drug paraphernalia.
The action by ICE Friday was the second in the borough in as many weeks.
It was also reported by various news sources this week that ICE has contracted with a third-party vendor to begin using license plate tracking technology to locate undocumented immigrants, which has raised concerns by some civil libertarians.