Students waiting for their school bus were seen running away as federal agents conducted an operation at a nearby apartment complex in South Jersey, according to a letter sent to parents by the Lindenwold School District.
As fourth and fifth grade students were waiting at the Woodland Village Apartments bus stop in Lindenwold on the morning of Thursday, Feb. 12, the school district said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents showed up.
In video shared with NBC10, several of the students could be seen running away. The school district explained that the incident caused fear and confusion.
The bus driver made sure that all of the students made it to class safely by circling back to the bus stop multiple times, according to the district.
Hugo Cuello, 10, spoke to NBC10 with his mom’s permission and he explained that his father was the person that ICE was looking for.
Cuello said that he was standing with his mother when he saw several cars pull up and that’s when he warned the other kids that ICE officers were there.
“It makes me feel sad because some people are leaving this country without their parents,” classmate Valery Pachecho Nunez told NBC10.
Once the students were inside the school, they were reportedly upset over what happened so counselors were called to help them.
The school district told parents in the letter sent out on Thursday that if their child is feeling anxiety or distress over this incident to please call their school building principal.
NBC10 reached out to ICE and the Department of Homeland Security for more details on the incident. We’ll include a statement once we receive one.
On Friday, Camden County Commissioner Director Louis Cappelli Jr. released a statement on the incident.
“The absolute chaos sowed by this ICE operation in Lindenwold yesterday morning was appalling,” Cappelli Jr. wrote. “At the moment we are short on facts and details about the intentions of ICE and do know at some point they called 911 for support. That said, the impact and fear that struck the children of our county was painful to watch and I can’t imagine the anxiety and trauma that came from this incident. We have a dialogue with our Congressman who is helping us get answers to what happened yesterday. I also want to applaud the work of the Superintendent of the Lindenwold Schools whose staff jumped into action to identify the whereabouts of the students and ensure their safety. Furthermore, as a community, segments of our population are being terrorized and scared to leave their homes. This is no way for any of us to live.”
Camden County Commissioner Jonathan Young released a statement as well.
“As a former Lindenwold resident, I’m disgusted to watch the videos of children running in absolute terror along a busy county thoroughfare,” Young said. “This callous operation, in front of 44 young children, sent them scattering in different directions underscores the type of terror our residents are living under every day. No one wants criminals in their community, that said, under Trump, ICE has been inhumane in how it conducts its operations. We’ve seen that firsthand throughout other cities in the country and now it’s happening here. No one in our community deserves to hide in the shadows. And being locked away in your home doesn’t create a safer neighborhood. Moving forward, we will work with Congressman Norcross to figure out what happened on Gibbsboro-Clementon Road yesterday.”