Updated April 1, 2025
Children detained as part of ICE investigation
Three children enrolled at Sackets Harbor Central School and their mother were among the seven individuals detained by federal immigration officials at a Jefferson County dairy farm last week.
Last Monday, March 24, U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) said it began conducting “enhanced targeted operations” in New York to enforce U.S. Immigration law.
That included a visit to North Harbor Dairy, located in the town of Hounsfield in Jefferson County.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection confirmed via an email that during the course of a federal law enforcement investigation conducted on Thursday, March 27, Border Patrol agents “encountered seven individuals determined to be in the United States illegally, including two minors,” all of whom were not part of the initial investigation.
CBP says it took those seven people into custody, processed them, and then turned them over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
It also confirmed that all those individuals have been transferred out of New York State and are currently awaiting removal proceedings.
The Sackets Harbor Central School District has confirmed that those individuals include three children who are enrolled there: one child in the elementary school, and two in the high school, one of whom was processed as an adult.
“Basically, law enforcement was executing a warrant for a person who was allegedly involved in a crime. This happened at a local farm within my school district boundaries,” said Jennifer Gaffney, the Sackets Harbor Superintendent. “My students were caught in the middle of that raid, and they were taken and detained.”
While Gaffney said she was unable to give personal details about the children, she said “these kids are classmates, they are good friends, they are wonderful students, and they are part of the fabric of our school community, and they just need to be returned to their classrooms.”
Worried about wellbeing of students
Gaffney said since Thursday morning, she and her colleagues have been in contact with every state and federal representative they can reach “to determine their whereabouts and their wellbeing, as well as to secure their return.”
CBP declined to provide further details on the family’s case or current whereabouts and ICE has not responded to NCPR’s request for comment and information.
NCPR wasn’t able to reach the owner of the North Harbor Dairy Farm, but Corey DeCillis, the Chairman of Jefferson County’s Democratic Committee, spoke with him over the weekend.
"He explained to me how detrimental and how terrifying it was to see those kids [taken] by masked, armed Homeland Security agents and ICE agents, handcuffed and put in the van, and escorted off his farm," said DeCillis.
DeCillis says the farmer described his workers - and the children - as his family.
"And when he kept referring to these folks as his family, and that really hit home for me. I have kids. That’s not the way to treat children."
Governor Kathy Hochul weighed in on the situation in a statement, saying that under Presidents Biden and Trump, she's been willing to work with the federal government to help secure the borders "...and deport violent criminals who pose a threat. But I cannot think of any public safety justification for ICE agents to rip an innocent family, including a child in the third grade, from their Sackets Harbor home."
She said this is not the immigration enforcement promised to Americans. "It's just plain cruel," said Hochul. "I want this family returned to New York State and believe ICE needs to immediately answer for these actions.”
Congresswoman Claudia Tenney (NY-24), who represents Sackets Harbor, has not responded to multiple requests for comment and information.
Assemblyman Scott Gray (NY 116) made released a public statement on Wednesday morning acknowledging the North Harbor Dairy detainment, and wrote that he has been in direct contact with "Governor Hochul and the appropriate federal authorities last evening [Tuesday, April 1]. These officials have been responsive and cooperative throughout our discussions. We are currently awaiting a report on the occurrence."
The role migrant workers play on dairy farms
Dairy farms make up the single largest segment of New York agriculture, and are deeply tied into local economies. Migrant labor is estimated to make up somewhere between 30 and 80% of the dairy farm workforce.
"The industry, of course, you know, cares about those workers, needs those workers," said Richard Stup, the director of Cornell's Agricultural Workforce Development Program.
He says many migrant dairy workers become embedded in the communities they work. "In many cases, you know, these individuals have been here for a long time. There's Pew research, showing that a large percentage have been here longer than 15 years."
The right to due process
The President and CEO of the NY Immigration Coalition, Murad Awawdeh, said the Sackets Harbor detainment “is an affront to American values and to humanity in general. We’re supposed to live in a nation of laws.”
Awawdeh said he was familiar with the family’s situation and that his organization believes they are now being held in a detention center in Texas.
He said the family had an immigration case in New York and had been attending immigration check-ins and court hearings.“They were snatched by ICE agents and sent thousands of miles away from their home and their community,” he said. “Everyone in America has the right to due process, but Donald Trump and Tom Homan are acting fully outside of the law.”
Tom Homan is President Trump’s appointed Border Czar. He grew up in Jefferson County, near North Harbor Dairy.
“We are going to make this country safe again,” Homan said of immigration crackdown efforts in a Fox News interview earlier in March.“I'm proud to be a part of this administration. We are not stopping. I don't care what the judges think. I don't care what the Left thinks. We're coming.”
Homan's interview was about the Trump Adminstration's power over deportations.
On March 15, President Donald Trump invoked the Alien Enemies Act, a statute last used during World War II, to put Japanese Americans and Nationals in internment camps. It essentially allows the government to detain and deport immigrants without court hearings.
Homan, who grew up in Jefferson County and has a home in Sackets Harbor, says President Trump has a mandate from the American people. "President Trump has made a promise to this country. We are going to make this country safe again."
While that’s being battled in court, Murah Awawdeh, from the New York Immigrant Coalition, says that immigrant dairy workers - but also green card holders, visa-holders, and people who are in the legal immigration process - are being detained and denied due process.
"We’re inching and entering a constitutional crisis where people’s due process rights are being violated, again and again," he said.
Sackets Harbor community rallying
Superintendent Jennifer Gaffney says for her school community, this is about three children they know and care about, who are no longer in its classrooms.
"To us as educators, this is not about politics, it’s about kids. And no matter their individual circumstances, when they come into our school and into our classrooms, we have a job to do, and we cannot do it when they’re not here."
He and other members of the Jefferson County Democratic Committee are planning a rally to support the students for this Saturday, April 5, at 2PM in Sackets Harbor.
The rally will end in front of the home of Border Czar Tom Homan, which is in Sackets Harbor.
“He lives in that community and he is a North Country native, so this is right in his backyard. And it’s shameful," said DeCillis. "Obviously this is the administration’s policy, but I really think they’re going about it the total wrong way, and he needs to understand this is his backyard and his community and he’s impacting it greatly."