ICE Detains Mother & Her Three Children in Farm Raid Near NY Home of Border Czar Tom Homan

AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman, as we turn now to look at how a family of four — a mother and three children — were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in a raid not far from the home of Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan. The raid took place last Thursday at the North Harbor Dairy near the town of Sackets Harbor, New York, a small town with a population of about 1,300. It’s in upstate New York, in western New York. In total, seven people were detained, including the mother and her three kids, who were enrolled in the local public school — a third grader, a 10th grader and an 11th grader. Witnesses say they were all handcuffed before being removed from a home at the dairy farm and put in a van. ICE has confirmed they were then taken to a recently reopened family detention center in Texas.

This is Jennifer Gaffney, the superintendent of Sackets Harbor Central School District.

JENNIFER GAFFNEY: As part of the process of detaining the person for whom the warrant was issued, we had three students who got caught up in that mess and subsequently taken and detained. … We are all very, very, very well connected with our students who are missing. And these students are friends. They’re classmates. They’re good students. And they’re part of the fabric of our community, and we want them back in our classrooms.

AMY GOODMAN: The superintendent was interviewed by local ABC upstate. ICE agents said the mother and children were collateral arrests and that the raid on the dairy farm was related to a warrant to arrest of a South African man allegedly dealing in child pornography.

This Saturday, community members are holding a rally starting at the town’s welcome center, marching to the home of Trump border czar Tom Homan, who’s a native of the area. He spoke to the local news station WWNY and said he was looking into the raid and the possibility the family could be released and returned to Sackets Harbor.

TOM HOMAN: This was not — you know, it wasn’t a raid. It was a search warrant execution in a house where a family was found and — and who entered the country illegally. They’re under docket control. So, ICE is doing everything by the book. Border Patrol did everything by the book. And once the investigation gets to the place where we no longer have an interest in this family, then a decision will be made on release. …

So, as far as Sackets Harbor, you know, I grew up, as you know, in West Carthage, not too far from your family. I love the North Country. I want to return to North Country. It’s unfortunate that this — it brings undue, necessary attention to a small town that I love, a small town that I’d like to retire in.

AMY GOODMAN: For more, we’re joined by Murad Awawdeh, the president of the New York Immigration Coalition, helping residents as they call for ICE to release this family.

Murad, welcome back to Democracy Now! Can you explain what happened to this family of four, almost next-door neighbors to Homan? The third grader, the two high school kids and their mom were handcuffed and taken away?

MURAD AWAWDEH: Well, first, thank you for having me.

You know, it’s really unfortunate to see this family who, in the dark of morning, were snatched from their beds, arrested, and then detained and then disappeared. Similarly, we’ve been seeing this happen across the country, but even more so appalling that ICE figured that it was important that they arrest these children and their mother, which they had no warrant to enter their home, which they did, as well as ensuring that they not only arrested them, but they moved them over 1,800 miles away from their home and their community.

So, it’s been incredibly heartening to see the local community of Sackets Harbor rally in support of this family and their students. But we’re all calling for the same thing, which is the immediate release and return of this family back to New York.

AMY GOODMAN: So, what are their rights? I mean, it’s interesting. Homan has been so fierce in his rhetoric against immigrants, but now that people in his community — it sounds like he’s beginning to back off.

MURAD AWAWDEH: Well, his community has been loud and clear. They are not in support of these warrantless arrests. They are not in support of family separation or child detainment. You have these three children and their mother now sitting in what is, in essence, a jail and a prison in Texas, and continuing to parrot these talking points as if they are — as if ICE and him are in the right, when we know they’re in the wrong.

This family actually was going through the immigration system as they were told to, following the process and the steps that was dictated to them by the immigration court. And now, instead of waiting for their court date, they are sitting in a family detention center in Texas awaiting their fate, which is really horrendous. And again, we’re calling on their immediate release and for them to be sent back to New York.

AMY GOODMAN: So, there’s a protest for Saturday at 2:00 planned, and the mayor of Sackets Harbor says he’s going to — says they’re going to declare a state of emergency as they march to Homan’s house?

MURAD AWAWDEH: I think that this case, specifically, has drawn a lot of interest and outrage from the local community, as well as the surrounding areas. You know, North Country is a beautiful part of New York state. It is hundreds of miles away from New York City. But even more so, in a community of Sackets Harbor, of, you know, 1,300 or so residents, they are all outraged. This is a farming community. And even the farmer, who this action happened on his property, is also outraged.

And I think in this moment what they are demanding is they want their kids to come back to them. These are their students. These are their friends. These are their neighbors. And they’re incredibly, incredibly horrified that this happened, to begin with. And I don’t know if anyone can imagine a third grader being arrested or other kids being arrested simply because of, you know, ICE wanting to meet their quota of the day.

AMY GOODMAN: And there wasn’t a deportation order, and they were showing up at court for their various hearings.

MURAD AWAWDEH: Yes, there was no order, there was no warrant, and they were still navigating the immigration system.

AMY GOODMAN: I also want to ask you about New York Mayor Eric Adams, who today is making his first mayoral campaign appearance of 2025 after a federal judge dismissed his corruption case, granting a request from the Justice Department that was widely seen as a quid pro quo in exchange for Adams implementing Trump’s mass deportation agenda. But the judge, Dale Ho, dismissed the case with prejudice, meaning the charges cannot be later revived, going against the wishes of the Justice Department, which sought to leave the door open for potential future prosecution, perhaps if Adams didn’t do what they wanted. The judge wrote, “Everything here smacks of a bargain: dismissal of the indictment in exchange for immigration policy concessions,” unquote. Earlier today, Adams announced he plans to run for reelection as an independent instead of as a Democrat. Your assessment of what’s going on here, Murad?

MURAD AWAWDEH: Yeah, I think this doesn’t really change very much. There was, obviously, as per the AUSAs who quit because they refused to dismiss these charges, that there was a quid pro quo —

AMY GOODMAN: When you say “AUSAs,” you mean assistant U.S. attorneys, one after another, conservative attorneys, saying they did not want to drop the charges against the mayor.

MURAD AWAWDEH: Yeah, and that their case was based on facts. You know, we, as myself and my organization, had never called for his resignation because he was charged, because we believe — although he doesn’t believe this for our community, but we believe every single person in this country has the right to due process, including the mayor. But what transpired here was not that.

And, you know, we echo the sentiments of the judge in saying that there was a bargain struck here, and we don’t know what that is, but the allusion that has been made through the assistant U.S. attorneys and their comments is that this is a deal that was cut to ensure that the mayor supports the Trump administration’s mass deportation plan, which we are completely against, because that is nothing but actually horrifying for our families, negatively impacting our communities, and it will gut our local economy.

So, the mayor has a tough road ahead. I think that if he does try to collude with immigration enforcement against local law, we’re going to fight tooth and nail and work with our partners in the New York City Council to ensure that we continue to defend and protect our communities.

AMY GOODMAN: Murad Awawdeh, before we go, I wanted to ask you, as a Palestinian American, a leader in the immigration rights community, your thoughts on what happened last night, the Jewish students and the Israeli American student at Columbia University who chained themselves to the gates of Columbia, demanding to know who in the administration or on the board of trustees pointed the finger at Mahmoud Khalil, who’s imprisoned in an immigration jail in Louisiana. A judge in New Jersey ruled his case should be held in New Jersey, dealt with in New Jersey. Not clear what’s going to happen to him in Louisiana. His wife, Dr. Noor Abdalla, a dentist here in New York, is about to give birth to their first child. Your response to all that’s taking place?

MURAD AWAWDEH: You know, Mahmoud Khalil has been — was the first student who was detained by this administration and disappeared. Now there are several others who are in the same situation as him. Mahmoud Khalil, as many people know, was a student at Columbia. And, you know, when I was on your show last discussing this, I mentioned that there was a Forward report that mentioned that the Columbia institution actually seemed as if it was colluding with immigration enforcement, which is incredibly abhorrent. This is not something that an institution, any institution, should be doing, in working with Immigration and Customs Enforcement on wrongfully detaining — 

AMY GOODMAN: We have 10 seconds.

MURAD AWAWDEH: — and removing their students. So, kudos to the students continuing to protest for his release and demanding accountability on the university.

AMY GOODMAN: And you were referring to the Jewish newspaper The Forward. Murad Awawdeh —

MURAD AWAWDEH: Yeah.

AMY GOODMAN: — thank you for being with us, president of the New York Immigration Coalition. To see all our coverage of the protest, go to democracynow.org. I’m Amy Goodman. Thanks for joining us.