Sunday’s ICE sweep in Morristown “arrested 11 illegal aliens during routine immigration enforcement actions,” Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin said in a statement on Thursday.
“Several of those with felony offenses,” McLaughlin continued. “Others took advantage of the Biden administration’s open border crisis. All individuals are currently detained, and either in removal proceedings or in the process of being removed from the United States in accordance with U.S. immigration law.”
McLaughlin concluded the brief statement, sent in response to questions from Morristown Green, saying: “We encourage all illegal aliens to use the CBP Home app to take control of their departure. The U.S. taxpayer is generously offering illegal aliens $1,000 and a free flight home.”
Morristown Green reiterated earlier requests for identities of the detainees, the charges against them, and where they are being held. This story will be updated with any response that is received.
Among those arrested was 17-year-old Morristown High School senior Juan Daniel Mendoza, who was doing his laundry at a Speedwell Avenue laundromat when ICE officers arrived. He fled, was chased down and arrested across the street, and taken to a detention center in Elizabeth, according to his pastor.
His status was unclear on Thursday. A GoFundMe campaign for his legal defense has raised more than $92,000 so far.
Another fund drive has raised more than $20,000 for Adonay Mancia Rodriguez, a Honduran man who was arrested Sunday morning across the street from Willmar’s Laundromat. He had gone to a pick up food for his 6-year-old daughter Annabella, who was waiting back at their apartment nearby.
Rodriguez, 30, came to America as a 16-year-old refugee and is a hard worker with no criminal record, according to his family. Annabella has been “inconsolable,” according to a relative.
‘THE TACTIC IS TO MAKE PEOPLE AFRAID’
Members of Morristown’s Hispanic community were skeptical of DHS claims of felonies.
“So oftentimes, when they say these people have felonies, it is just the talking point that they have been feeding our communities to create this us-versus-them mentality,” said Karol Ruiz, an attorney affiliated with the Wind of the Spirit Immigrant Resource Center.
It’s often impossible to verify such claims, Ruiz said, because the government releases few details about detainees.
“Let’s start with the high school student. He doesn’t have any felonies,” said Morristown Councilman David Silva, a Colombian immigrant who is pastor of the Centro Biblico Church.
“So (ICE) goes to a place where there is a concentration (of Hispanics) — like the laundromat, and then start grabbing people, because the tactic is to make people afraid, so they will leave.”
Silva said two members of his congregation were deported last month.
A black van pulled up near the Washington’s Headquarters Museum as the men prepared to go to work. They were laborers from Guatemala; a contractor owed them a lot of money and may have tipped off ICE to avoid paying their back wages, Silva said.
One of the deported men leaves behind a wife and baby, said Silva, by phone from a mission trip in Colombia.
Silva said his congregation is organizing food pickups and other errands for people afraid to venture from their homes because of ICE. Ruiz said educators from the Morris School District also have quietly been offering rides, interpreters and other support to families. “I’m so deeply moved by the Morris School District,” she said.
CLERGY SPEAK OUT
Meanwhile, 71 members of the Morris County Interfaith Clergy signed a statement denouncing the ICE raid, and calling for an end to “immoral, unconstitutional, and indiscriminate enforcement actions” that are creating “a climate of terror.”
The clerics exhorted immigration enforcement officers to cease actions that target people based on race, ethnicity, or national origin; to provide transparency and due process to those detained and their families; to respect the dignity and humanity of all people regardless of immigration status; and to allow access to pastoral and spiritual care for those who are detained.
They also called upon faith communities and all “people of conscience” to stand in solidarity with immigrant neighbors, speak out against fear-mongering and dehumanizing rhetoric, offer practical support to those affected by the enforcement actions, and affirm that the community’s strength lies in its diversity and shared commitment to human dignity.
The statement reads:
Across our varied faiths, we share a fundamental conviction: Every human being is created in the image of God and possesses inherent dignity that cannot be diminished by legal status, country of origin, or any other circumstance. Our faith traditions call us to welcome the stranger, to defend the vulnerable, to speak truth to power, and to stand with those who are marginalized. When masked agents in unmarked vehicles detain people from laundromats, businesses, and public spaces without transparency or accountability; when families are left in anguish not knowing where their loved ones have been taken; when entire communities live in fear – this violates the dignity we are called to uphold.
Immigration agents engaging in indiscriminate sweeps are creating a climate of terror
among our neighbors, regardless of immigration or citizenship status. People washing their clothes on a Sunday morning, including a high school student, were taken into custody. This is not justice. This is not who we are as a community.
As people of faith, we cannot be silent when the sacred dignity of any person is violated. We will continue to work for justice, compassion, and the protection of all members of our
community.
Together, we stand with our immigrant neighbors in Morris County and beyond.
Morristown has a long history of people stepping forward in pivotal moments.
When you chip in to Morristown Green, you’re helping your neighbors stay informed, strengthening our civic backbone, and carrying on the spirit that’s defined this town since its earliest days.
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