New York—On Thursday, March 27, a mother and her three children were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in Sackets Harbor, New York – the town where “border czar” Thomas Homan lives. When ICE was executing an arrest on a farm, they also entered a different home on the property, without a judicial warrant, and detained the mother and her three children. The mother and children have since been transported to ICE’s Karnes County Detention Facility in Texas.
Jennifer L. Gaffney, Superintendent, Sackets Harbor Central School District:
“At Sackets Harbor Central School District, we view ourselves as a family, and right now, some of our family members are hurting. We are hurting because ICE took three students and their mother away from our community. The safety and well-being of our students will always be our top priority, and we will leave no stone unturned in our efforts to ensure their return back home, to our school and community. We want them back in our classrooms as soon as possible, reunited with their teachers, friends, and the opportunity to continue their learning.”
Murad Awawdeh, President and CEO, New York Immigration Coalition:
“Families belong together. It is horrifying that these children and their mother were snatched from their home and disappeared. This egregious action in Tom Homan’s backyard is an affront to American values, and to humanity in general. We are supposed to live in a nation of laws, but while this family was correctly navigating the immigration system and attending their immigration court hearings, they were instead taken by ICE agents and sent thousands of miles away from their home and community. Everyone in America has the right to due process, but Donald Trump, Tom Homan, and ICE are now acting fully outside of the law. We demand their immediate release.”