Sackets Harbor, a Beacon of Hope in a Cruel World

 

by Pa Rock

Citizen Journalist

Sackets Harbor, New York, is a small town (pop. 1,364) near the shores of Lake Ontario, the kind of place where many of us of a certain age grew up, or at least our parents did.  People in rural American towns like Sackets Harbor tend to be sincere in their practice of religion, conservative in their values and politics, and basically good neighbors who look out for one another.

Thomas Homan, the former man in charge of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the first Trump administration and now the US "Border Czar" with even more power to wreck families and deport people than he previously had, grew up in Sackets Harbor.   Today he has a vacation home there.  A few weeks ago the cruelty involved in Homan's job collided with the serenity of his summer retreat.

According to a press release by the New York Civil Liberties Union:

"On March 27 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents conducted a raid near North Harbor Dairy Farms in Sackets Harbor, New York.   While agents were conducting a raid on the farm, they entered another home on the property without a judicial warrant and detained a mother and three children, aged 9, 15, and 18.   The family was subsequently transferred thousands of miles away, to a detention facility in Texas."

The kids who were removed were all students at the local public school which goes from pre-K through grade 12.  One was a 3rd grader in elementary school, and the other two were in high school, a sophomore and a junior.   The three were all experiencing success in school and were well liked by their classmates.  Strong community, state, and national support quickly sprang up for the family, due in large part to a letter written by the school's principal and posted on Facebook.  Here is the letter from principal Jamie Cook:

"Message from Sackets Harbor Principal:

"Our three students who were taken by ICE were doing everything right.  They had declared themselves to immigration judges, attended court on their assigned dates, and were following the legal process.

"They are not criminals.  They have no ties to criminal activity.  They are loved in their classrooms.  Their family has worked at the nearby "Old McDonald's" petting zoo and dairy farm for 15 years.  

"They lived in a house on the same road as a home ICE had a warrant for.  The fact that ICE went door to door is unfathomable.   The fact that our students were handcuffed and put into the same van as the criminal from down the street is unconscionable.

"When I think of my third grader's experience, my stomach twists and it is hard to breathe.  We are in shock - and it is that shared shock that has unified our community in the call for our students' release.  

"We are in direct communication with our students.  Let me be clear:  They are not "being medically evaluated."  They are not "being questioned as potential victims."

"Calling a detention center by any other name does not change what it is."

"We deserve better than spin and misinformation.  My teachers and my students are already hurting.

"Please think about how long every hour feels to a third grader in a detention center.

"The wait had already been too long a week ago.

"I have no other agenda.  Please release my students and their mother back to our community."

Wow!  America, there is your school principal of the year for 2025!

The family was released by ICE a few days after that letter was posted, and following a large demonstration that included elected officials from both political parties.    They were allowed to go home, back into the welcoming arms of their community.

Sackets Harbor stood up to the bully, in this case their own national government, and got their friends returned to the only community that those children had basically ever known.  Those kids aren't tattooed gang members who eat dogs and cats, they are simple, decent human beings who are loved by their friends and neighbors - as are most of the strangers who come to our country from other lands.

The people of Sackets Harbor stood fast against the cruelties of the government and showed the world what it means to really be a community, a place where everyone tries to be a good neighbor to everyone else.

Thomas Homan should try to spend more time at his summer home in Sackets Harbor.   He could use a refresher course in basic humanity.