{"id":33293,"date":"2025-11-08T21:04:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-08T21:04:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/33293\/"},"modified":"2025-11-08T21:04:16","modified_gmt":"2025-11-08T21:04:16","slug":"it-breaks-my-heart-staten-islanders-rally-for-teen-allegedly-detained-by-ice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/33293\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018It breaks my heart\u2019: Staten Islanders rally for teen allegedly detained by ICE"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, NY — A few dozen protesters waving signs and American flags lined a stretch of Victory Boulevard outside the office of Rep. Nicole Malliotakis in Castleton Corners on Saturday. <\/p>\n

The protesters said they were gathered to support Sara, a recent Port Richmond High School graduate allegedly detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, while working at a warehouse earlier this month. According to attendees, Sara now awaits a court hearing to fight for her right to remain in the United States and has had little to no contact with her family.<\/p>\n

\"StatenThe protest was supported by Staten Island Action Coalition, a group of residents whose goal is to turn their concerns into effective actions and improve solidarity.(Advance\/SILive | Nicolette Cavallaro)\"StatenThe protest remained peaceful and was overseen by the NYPD, who set up barriers and guided the flow of traffic.(Advance\/SILive | Nicolette Cavallaro)<\/p>\n

Organizers urged those at the rally to call on Malliotakis, a Republican who represents Staten Island and parts of Brooklyn in Congress, to defend the dignity and safety of the immigrant community.<\/p>\n

After reading a speech Sara reportedly wrote about her time in school, a protestor stated: \u201cShe appreciates what this country gave to her. She expresses it so well. She\u2019s so appreciative to her teachers and to America. She\u2019s what everybody wants for their neighbor to be and it breaks my heart that this is what they\u2019re going after. They\u2019re not just going after violent criminals.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"StatenOrganizers urged those at the rally to call on Rep. Nicole Malliotakis to defend the dignity and safety of the immigrant community.(Advance\/SILive | Nicolette Cavallaro)<\/p>\n

Another attendee agreed, adding that Sara was an honors student in school and is a beloved neighbor. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s especially personal when a neighbor or someone in your community is targeted … we\u2019re not going to tolerate that. That makes it that much more personal,\u201d said a protester, explaining they live near the alleged detainee. \u201cWhen it\u2019s someone who hasn\u2019t done anything wrong, who you know is a good person, who you know is a young person. We want to sit in solidarity.\u201d<\/p>\n

The protest was supported by Staten Island Action Coalition, a group of residents whose goal is to turn their concerns into effective actions and improve solidarity in the borough. Saturday\u2019s rally was one of many events the organization has held recently outside Malliotakis\u2019 office.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have demonstrated outside this office for months and months about this issue,\u201d said Laura McCarthy, one of the founders of the coalition. \u201cWhen we heard about this, we were horrified by the idea that a teenager would be taken in, because if anybody thought about your own teenage kid sitting in a cell with 15 other women with nothing but the clothes on her back, it\u2019s horrifying.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Staten\u201cIt\u2019s especially personal when a neighbor or someone in your community is targeted …,” said a protestor.(Advance\/SILive | Nicolette Cavallaro)\"Staten\u201cWhen we heard about this, we were horrified by the idea that a teenager would be taken in …,” said said Laura McCarthy, one of the founders of the Staten Island Action Coalition. (Advance\/SILive | Nicolette Cavallaro)<\/p>\n

The protest remained peaceful and was overseen by the NYPD, who set up barriers and guided the flow of traffic.<\/p>\n

In response to the event, Taylor Weyeneth, Malliotakis\u2019 chief of staff, issued the following statement: <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is the first our office is hearing about the case. We do not know the facts surrounding this detainment, and no one from the detained individual\u2019s family has contacted us about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attendees could not confirm the student\u2019s full name or details about her detainment.<\/p>\n

If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement<\/a> and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and\/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, NY — A few dozen protesters waving signs and American flags lined a stretch of Victory…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[9,24,63,134,136,135],"class_list":["post-33293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-staten-island","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-staten-island","tag-staten-island-headlines","tag-staten-island-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}