In Rensselaer County, where the sheriff’s department openly partners with ICE, activists are calling for a change.
Verónica Amador says her husband, José, was on his way to work when he was targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents on August 13 in Albany. Amador says her life has been turned upside down, and since Jose’s detainment, she had been taking multiple trips weekly from her home in Troy to Buffalo, where Jose was being held. But, in recent weeks, that changed.
“We love each other, and we stand by each other no matter no matter what, but Tuesday, August 26, I took five hours drive, once more, once more, only to find out. I decided to move Jose to across the country. Since then, we haven't been able to find out and speak. Where's he at?”
Amador shared her story during a protest outside Troy City Hall Friday. Rensselaer County activists and community members are calling for local officials to resist ICE activity in a county that has partnered with ICE since 2018.
Activists say, since February, they know of at least 36 detainments in Troy, two in East Greenbush, and one green card deportation.
Despite the occasional detractor, protestors remained steadfast, while some ratcheted up the rhetoric, calling city and county leaders complacent and comparing a partnership with ICE to support of white supremacy.
In a statement, the city’s spokesperson Alex Horton said the group’s statements are “disgusting and categorically false.”
In a joint statement with Police Chief Dan DeWolf, Mayor Carmella Mantello, a Republican, said the city will “fully cooperate with any federal law enforcement agencies to maintain public safety and to uphold the law.”
Troy’s Deputy Chief of Police told WAMC the department has interacted with ICE one time this year – in March after the police department notified the agency about a stabbing.
Council President Sue Steele, a Democrat, says she’d like to reintroduce anti-ICE legislation to the council. Previous efforts under the former administration were voted down.
“I want to choose my words carefully. I definitely will introduce legislation. I want to choose my words carefully, because I want it to be successful. I want this not to be a political issue. But as I said before, it's a human rights issue. It's a matter of justice. It's a matter of following our Constitution,” Steele said.
David Banks is the secretary for Troy Area Labor Council. He says “disappearing” won’t stop with immigrants.
“If you start waging a war on immigrants, then you're, you're also like eroding the very fabric of this country, that the idea that you can come in here and do your best and work hard in order to build a better life for yourself and your family is really just core to the American story. And I think that when we attack immigrants, we are attacking ourselves,” Banks said.
The Rensselaer County Sheriff’s Office told WAMC in a statement that it will continue to support “law enforcement on other levels” amid an ongoing “effective working relationship with ICE through the 287-G program.” The 287-G program allows state and local law enforcement agencies to deputize officers to enforce parts of U.S. immigration laws.
County Executive Steve McLaughlin says he supports all who come to the county legally, but will support “the president’s work to make America safer.”
The issue, of course, isn’t isolated to Rensselaer County. Bryan McCormack, executive director of the Columbia County Sanctuary Movement, says Columbia and Green Counties have had roughly 15 confirmed ICE raids this year.
McCormack says his organization largely supports Latinx males, and people from the Caribbean and Bangladeshi communities.
ICE and the Department of Homeland Security did not respond to a request for comment.
