Sackets Harbor ‘distressed’ after children are taken in immigration sweep
SACKETS HARBOR, New York (WWNY) - “This isn’t about politics to us. This is about kids,” said Sackets Harbor Central School District Superintendent Jennifer Gaffney.
Gaffney is talking about three students who weren’t in school on Monday.
They were taken away early last Thursday morning after federal agents went to North Harbor Dairy Farm in the town of Hounsfield.
“I think I’m feeling the way many of my colleagues and students and school community members are feeling which is one of distress, one of fear for my students, and one of hopelessness,” said district superintendent Jennifer Gaffney.
Since last Thursday, Gaffney has been calling local, state, and federal representatives for answers and support.
She’s not happy with the results so far.
“These kids are - they’re classmates, they’re good friends, they are wonderful students, and they are part of the fabric of our school community, and they need to be returned to their classrooms,” said Gaffney.
Sources told 7News that federal agents went to the farm last Thursday looking for one man, Marcell Meyer. Federal prosecutors announced last Friday that the South African man was charged with child pornography. 7News was unable to independently confirm that Meyer was arrested in the farm search.
In addition to his arrest, 7 other people were rounded up. Federal officials described the people as illegal aliens.
They were processed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection on Wellesley Island.
The situation has caught the attention of the New York Immigration Coalition, a state group that fights for immigration rights.
On its website, it says a woman and her 3 children were detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the raid. Its president says the family was attending immigration hearings and navigating the system.
“When ICE was executing an arrest on a farm, they also entered a different home on the property, without a judicial warrant, and detained the mother and her three children. The mother and children have since been transported to ICE’s Karnes County Detention Facility in Texas,” the coalition said.
A source told 7News the mother and children were born outside the United States and have been living here for 2 years.
“We are supposed to live in a nation of laws, but while this family was correctly navigating the immigration system and attending their immigration court hearings, they were instead taken by ICE agents and sent thousands of miles away from their home and community. Everyone in America has the right to due process, but Donald Trump, Tom Homan, and ICE are now acting fully outside of the law. We demand their immediate release,” said Murad Awawdeh, the coalition’s president and CEO.
A rally to support the school’s efforts to bring the kids back is set for Saturday.
The Jefferson County Democratic Committee says participants will march past the home of Tom Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar.
Homan, a West Carthage native, lives in the area.
“It’s not a political posturing rally, right? We’re not there to do anything. We just want to bring light to these kids and what happened to them,” said Corey DeCillis, committee chair.
The Saturday rally is set for 2 p.m. The Democratic Party stresses that it’ll be a peaceful and respectful rally that won’t trespass on Homan’s property.
Copyright 2025 WWNY. All rights reserved.
