Three students from upstate New York have been detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, one of them as young as a third grader. The move sent shock waves and alarms to New York Gov. Kathy Hochul and advocacy groups, who called the incident "horrifying."
The New York Immigration Coalition, a nonprofit that campaigns for immigrant rights, confirmed that the unidentified family— which included a third grader— was detained by ICE at a dairy farm in Sackets Harbor, New York. The family was then taken to the Karnes County Detention Facility in Texas, some 1,800 miles away, NBC News reports.
ICE agents were in Sackets Harbor looking for Marcell Meyer, who was charged with possession of child pornography. In addition to his arrest, seven other people were taken to a nearby border patrol and identified as "illegal aliens."
The superintendent of the Sackets Harbor Central School District, Jennifer Gaffney, said three of the people who were detained were students from her district. She called the incident "distressing."
"These are kids," Gaffney said. "They're classmates, they're good friends, they are wonderful students, and they are part of the fabric of our school community."
"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 three students were taken away from our school community," she said, adding that the school board would "leave no stone unturned in our efforts to ensure their return back home."
The New York Immigration Coalition defended the family on Wednesday, saying that they were complying with their court orders and immigration proceedings.
"It is horrifying that these children and their mother were snatched from their home and disappeared," Murad Awawdeh, the group's president and CEO, said in a statement. He added that the family was "correctly navigating the immigration system and attending their immigration court hearings," arguing that Trump and border czar Tom Homan were, "acting fully outside the law."
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul also denounced the detentions in a statement Tuesday, stating that she has worked with successive administrations on immigration, but she "cannot think of any public safety justification for ICE agents to rip an innocent family, including a child in the third grade, from their Sackets Harbor home."
"That is not the immigration enforcement promised to the American people. It's just plain cruel. I want this family returned to New York State and believe ICE needs to immediately answer for these actions," she said.
Sackets Harbor is in Jefferson County on the shores of Lake Ontario, 10 miles west of Watertown. On Saturday, the town will hold a rally, organized by the Democratic Committee of Jefferson County to call for the family's release. The Facebook event post said that the rally is not an anti-Trump event, but "about protecting our kids and standing up for families in our communities."
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