New Yorkers march to home of border czar Tom Homan after family's ICE abduction: "Bring them home"
Sackets Harbor, New York - Sackets Harbor turned out en masse on Saturday to protest the ICE detention of a mother and her three children, who were ripped from their community last month and transferred to a facility in far-away Texas.
“Bring them home," protesters chanted during Saturday's rally and march to Homan's home, organized by the Democratic Committee of Jefferson County.
The action – demanding the return of a local family held by ICE – was attended by over 1,000 community members, the New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) shared on X.
On March 27, federal agents detained a mother and her three children before school at a dairy farm in Sackets Harbor, the town where Homan resides, during a separate child pornography investigation.
The family, which included a third-grader, was then transferred to the Karnes County Detention Facility in Texas, according to the NYIC.
The incident sparked widespread outrage and condemnation from immigrants' rights groups and New York lawmakers.
"The Sackets Harbor Central School District is dedicated to educational excellence as we empower our students to embrace life's challenges with knowledge, character, and a commitment to learning as they become contributing citizens in the American democratic way of life. To fulfill that mission, we need our kids in school – all of them," Superintendent Jennifer Gaffney said during the weekend rally in a video posted on X by New York State United Teachers President Melinda Person.
Sackets Harbor Central School District Principal Jaime Cook said, "It has been devastating and gut-wrenching. We are such a small community. We have only 40 students per graduating class, so for three of them to go missing – you notice it, you feel it."
"I hope that our children are returned to us, and I hope that their family is reunited with their community and that we bring them home," Cook added.
Cover photo: Screenshot/X/@thenyic