SACKETS HARBOR, NY – A large rally attended by NYCLU (New York Civil Liberties Union) was held in Sackets Harbor, New York, this week in response to an Immigrant and Customs Enforcement (ICE) raid at a farm near North Harbor Dairy Farms, where a mother along with her three children were detained without a judicial warrant, reported NYCLU.
According to the NYCLU, ICE agents detained a mother and her three children, ages 9, 15 and 18, and transported them nearly 1,000 miles from their home to a detention facility in Texas.
“Our students were put in handcuffs, our tenth grader was, our eleventh grader was along with their mother…I never expected this to happen in Sackets Harbor, we’re a small village of 1,300 people and a graduating class of 40; we are in shock.” – Jaime Cook, principal of Sackets Harbor Central School
NYCLU quoted Cook, principal of Sackets Harbor Central School, who stated, “Our students were put in handcuffs, our tenth grader was, our eleventh grader was along with their mother…I never expected this to happen in Sackets harbor, we’re a small village of 1,300 people and a graduating class of 40; we are in shock.”
Jennifer, a teacher at Sackets Harbor Central School, stated, “No one in ICE or in the political community could tell us where they were…I’m a mom as well as a teacher and I couldn’t imagine not knowing where my family was,” NYCLU wrote.
“Two of these students are my students…we started making calls; People reached out to everyone they knew. We’ll take any help we can get to bring them back,” said Jonna St. Croix, president of the Teachers Association at Sackets Harbor Central School, reported NYCLU.
According to NYCLU, while addressing the community members during the rally at the Sackett Mansion in Sacket Harbor, St. Croix stated, “ These students and their mother are valued members of our community and deserve every protection under the law.”
Highlighting the connection between Tom Homan and President Donald Trump, Cook said, “Tom Homan lives in this community and as a community member, so when people are calling out to Tom Homan for help in this situation, it wasn’t a publicity stunt,” NYCLU wrote.
According to NYCLU, Cook continued, “Officers (of ICE) that are carrying out these orders feel like they can do anything…the neighbors and the communities that it destroys don’t really have any recourse.”
NYCLU reported that Jennifer noted, “I do think that, unfortunately, it is happening everywhere and it is very different when it happens to your family.”
In the same sentence, Jennifer stated, “They (the mother and the children detained) were going through the immigration process; They had reported to all their court hearings …that is particularly hard to understand because they want to do it right,” wrote NYCLU.
St. Croix added, “This is not okay. I understood that we have some students who are vulnerable but I did not see this as being our reality…our community is shook by this,” reported NYCLU.
Expanding on this struggle against ICE’s tactics by the community as a whole, Cook noted, “I think that this is catching, and I think that there is a moral movement; A shift…the closer it gets to your home, the more you feel it, and the more accountable you feel for it,” NYCLU reported.
Following the efforts of the community in Sackets Harbor, the mother and her children were allowed to return to Sackets Harbor after nearly two weeks of detention in the Texas detention center, the NYCLU said.
