Jamie Montana Cook, “Message from the Sackets Harbor Principal“
As the principal of these students, I need to speak plainly.
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 any 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 alleged 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 student’s release.
… My teachers and my students are already hurting.
Please, think about how long every hour feels for 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.
Background context here: “Sackets Harbor community calls for return of three children taken during ICE dairy farm visit.”
Update here: “Around 1,000 march in Sackets Harbor to seek return of family taken by ICE.”
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