\u201cNo Son Padres Ustedes?\u201d<\/p>\n
Late Tuesday morning in Westbury, in western Nassau County, parents and nearby residents noticed what they immediately recognized as unmarked federal agent vehicles parked within feet of Park Avenue Elementary School, two eyewitnesses told The Intercept. One of those residents, Allan Oscar Sorto, picked up his phone and began streaming live on Facebook.<\/p>\n
As he streamed, a dozen or so people began congregating near the cars, two Nissan Altimas and several Ford SUVs with flashers. People can be heard explaining that they\u2019ve seen these cars around the neighborhood in recent weeks, part of immigration raids. Now the sight of the cars parked so close to the elementary school seemed to spark heightened outrage and fear that federal immigration agents were lurking to surprise parents going to pick up their children from school.<\/p>\n
Sorto, from nearby Hempstead, estimated that there were four cars near the school, some within 10 feet of the schoolyard fence, and two other cars on the next block. Another eyewitness, who asked not to be named out of fear of law enforcement retaliation, told The Intercept that he could see uniformed HSI agents sitting in all the cars, most masked.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo son padres ustedes?\u201d a woman in the video says to the closed window of one of the parked Nissans: \u201cAre you not parents?\u201d<\/p>\n
People on the sidewalk yelled at the cars in Spanish and English. \u201cShow your face!\u201d \u201cYou feel proud?\u201d \u201cNone of us are criminals, we work, we pay taxes like you do.\u201d \u201cLeave the school grounds!\u201d<\/p>\n
The Westbury residents\u2019 fears seemed well-founded, considering reports from around the country. In California, ICE agents arrested and detained a fourth grader, separating the boy from his father; they were both deported <\/a>to Honduras. Alberto Carvalho, superintendent of the Los Angeles Unified School District, said DHS agents lied to school principals <\/a>that they had permission from children\u2019s parents to gain access to schools.<\/p>\n The Car Crash<\/p>\n In Westbury, the HSI agents didn\u2019t respond to the gathered crowd. After a few minutes, the agents drove away. A commotion erupted down the road, off-camera, and onlookers began rushing toward the corner.<\/p>\n One of the Nissans, carrying two of the HSI agents, had crashed into a black pickup truck that happened to be passing through the intersection. Three eyewitnesses told The Intercept that the agents\u2019 car had sped away. Two of the witnesses believe the Nissan blew a stop sign, causing the crash. (Nassau County police referred questions about the accident to ICE, which did not respond to an inquiry.)<\/p>\n After the accident, the crowd gathered around the scene, according to the video stream. The two agents got out of the crashed car, seemingly panicked and, witnesses told The Intercept, appearing to avoid eye contact with bystanders. The agents got into another HSI vehicle.<\/p>\n A third agent, an unmasked man with a black polo shirt covering his tactical vest, stood near the crashed car, remaining stoic as people questioned him on the livestream.<\/p>\n \u201cYou\u2019re looking for criminals in the school?\u201d one bystander asked, as the agent remained expressionless.<\/p>\n Then Sorto, the man streaming, said, \u201cI\u2019m a dad, I have a son waiting for me at home.\u201d The agent gave a slight nod \u2014 what Sorto said was the only response to the crowd during the incident.<\/p>\n \u201cYou guys need to have feelings, man,\u201d Sorto said.<\/p>\n Nassau County police began arriving in short order, eventually swelling to at least two dozen officers, some on horseback, closing the street and barricading residents onto sidewalks.<\/p>\n Nassau County Police Department, located in one of the country\u2019s safest countries, is one of the most well-funded departments in the nation, with a notoriously opaque transparency record.<\/a> In March, the department signed a controversial agreement with ICE giving deputized county police officers the ability to interrogate people about their immigration status and make arrests without a warrant.<\/a><\/p>\n During the Westbury incident, one of the HSI agents, wearing a mask, stood hidden behind several Nassau police officers as the residents appealed to them for information.<\/p>\n Soon, the federal agents left, leaving the smashed Nissan with the passenger side airbag deployed behind, and many in the crowd dispersed.<\/p>\n The driver of the pickup truck involved in the accident was placed in a stretcher and left in an ambulance. (Neither the police nor ICE offered information on the driver\u2019s identity or condition in response to inquiries from The Intercept.)<\/p>\n \u201cNow you\u2019re clogging up the street and people have to work,\u201d one of the remaining bystanders can be heard to say during the stream. \u201cHow is this making America great again?\u201d<\/p>\n Fear Grips Nassau<\/p>\n Late Tuesday night, Park Avenue Elementary School took an unprecedented step that reflected the fear in Westbury.<\/p>\n \u201cWe want to inform you that due to an incident that occurred near the school vicinity today, we will be providing transportation home for all students who are typically walkers,\u201d the principal, Robert Chambers, wrote in a message to the school community relayed in English and Spanish. \u201cThis is being done out of an abundance of caution to ensure the safety and well-being of all our students.\u201d<\/p>\n Sorto told The Intercept he had family members who were too afraid to send their children to school the next day. (Park Avenue Elementary did not respond to a request for comment.)<\/p>\n The Long Island newspaper Newsday first reported the Westbury incident with a quote from Nassau County police that the action was not immigration-related and that the agents were not working for ICE<\/a> on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n Late Tuesday, however, an ICE spokesperson issued a statement that contradicted the Nassau police.<\/p>\n \u201cICE Homeland Security Investigations Long Island personnel were conducting an operation associated to an ongoing federal investigation,\u201d the statement said. \u201cDuring the operation special agents were confronted by multiple anti-law enforcement agitators, which prohibited the enforcement action. ICE HSI personnel departed the location and, shortly thereafter, a member of the law enforcement team was involved in a motor-vehicle collision.\u201d<\/p>\n News 12, a local TV station, went back to local authorities for clarification, and police replied that \u201cthe agents on scene identified themselves to Nassau police as Homeland Security Investigations<\/a>, or HSI, agents and not as ICE.\u201d<\/p>\n Homeland Security Investigations is one of two divisions at ICE. While Enforcement and Removal Operations, or ERO, enforces civil immigration matters, HSI is tasked with investigating transitional crimes. HSI\u2019s enforcement is not limited to undocumented immigrants, but its investigations and operations, including workplace raids, frequently touch upon immigration matters.<\/p>\n In responses to ICE\u2019s allegation that residents were the ones creating chaos, Sorto denied that the residents on hand were agitators.<\/p>\n \u201cWe just are people that got together as community because we saw the cars outside the school,\u201d he told The Intercept. \u201cBut we don\u2019t belong to any group or anything. We just are good and hard-working people that want to have a regular life like anybody else.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n Homeless Shelter Raid<\/p>\n As the chaos erupted in Westbury, another alarming scene was unfolding an hour to the east, in Riverhead, on the outskirts of the New York City suburbs. A group of suspected ICE agents could be seen staging their vehicles in the Riverhead Fire Department parking lot, according to video and photographs shared with The Intercept by a community advocacy group.<\/p>\n A week earlier, ICE raids using another Long Island fire department sparked outrage in the community. The fire department subsequently issued a statement that fire officials were not previously informed that ICE would be using their parking lot.<\/p>\n Several hours after the men were seen at the Riverhead Fire Department, they were spotted again. Twelve to 14 of the masked men, some reportedly carrying long guns, were trying to get into a Riverhead men\u2019s homeless shelter, according to a video shared by several immigrant advocates in the area. They would not identify themselves, a shelter employee told local news outlet RiverheadLOCAL.<\/p>\n A shelter resident told RiverheadLOCAL that one of the men, wearing a black U.S. Marshals vest, came to the front door seeking entry but would neither show credentials or a warrant, nor give his name. (A representative for the shelter did not respond to inquiries.)<\/p>\n A representative for the Riverhead Fire Department told The Intercept, We\u2019re independent of corporate interests \u2014 and powered by members. Join us. <\/p>\n Join Our Newsletter <\/p>\n Thank You For Joining! <\/p>\n \n Original reporting. Fearless journalism. Delivered to you. <\/p>\n Will you take the next step to support our independent journalism by becoming a member of The Intercept?\n <\/p>\n By signing up, I agree to receive emails from The Intercept and to the Privacy Policy<\/a> and Terms of Use<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the East End towns of Long Island, where the rich enclaves of the Hamptons coexist alongside working agricultural communities, authorities have largely opposed helping ICE operations. Riverhead Town Supervisor Tom Hubbard, for example, said in January that town police would not get involved in immigration enforcement, and the majority-Hispanic Riverhead School District also sent a strong message that it would resist unlawful actions by immigration authorities at schools.<\/p>\n The president of an Eastern Suffolk BIPOC advocacy group told The Intercept that a network of immigrants\u2019 advocates have been closely monitoring the activities of ICE in the area. She believes the Riverhead police were mistaken that the agents at the shelter were not affiliated with ICE.<\/p>\n \u201cI have received information indicating that ICE\u2019s New York City Field Office is actively investigating immigration-related offenses across Long Island and the lower Hudson Valley,\u201d Marylin Winter, of the group the African American Educational Cultural Festival, said. (Neither the Riverhead town supervisor nor Riverhead police returned requests for comment.)<\/p>\n Winter said her group plans to disseminate \u201cknow your rights\u201d material for immigrants.<\/p>\n \u201cWe are resolute in our opposition to the illegal enforcement of immigration without a judicial warrant, asserting that no arrest should occur under such circumstances,\u201d she said. \u201cOur commitment extends to ensuring that the innocent, particularly children and their families, are fully aware of their legal rights.\u201d<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the confusion around ICE actions on Long Island continued. One Wednesday morning, Glen Cove city police, a small local force in Nassau County, responded to a call from a business owner about a possible assault, according to local media reports. When the police arrived, however, they found ICE officers holding a group of men on the ground<\/a>.<\/p>\n Following the outburst of opposition to ICE\u2019s presence in Nassau County, the county executive and police chief said that their forces would not be assisting ICE in operations inside schools or houses of worship.<\/p>\n \u201cRaids on schools are not something we do unless there\u2019s an emergency or a threat, and if there\u2019s an emergency or threat, we\u2019re coming in regardless of the situation,\u201d Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman told reporters<\/a>. \u201cSo the bottom line is, there is no program to raid schools here in Nassau County.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"MCALLEN,](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/guatemalan-immigrant-cpb-feat-1530033149.jpg\")
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\u201cWe had no idea who they were.\u201d<\/p>\n
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