Warning about ICE operation unnerves Middletown residents
Ignacio Acevedo, a senior organizer for the New York Civil Liberties Union, began broadcasting live on Facebook early Tuesday morning to alert the community of the several reports he received that ICE agents were knocking on doors on Cottage Street.
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Shop and restaurant owners in downtown Middletown told News 12 that business was slow Tuesday – just as it is anytime an alert circulates about a potential operation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.
Ignacio Acevedo, a senior organizer for the New York Civil Liberties Union, began broadcasting live on Facebook early Tuesday morning to alert the community of the several reports he received that ICE agents were knocking on doors on Cottage Street.
He advised that city residents should check their doorbell cameras for any immigration agents before heading out for work or school.
"It creates more fear," said bar owner Fernando Linares. He said “business goes down…a lot" when any credible alert circulates on social media.
Certain locations along Route 211 near the Middletown/Wallkill border, usually crowded with people seeking work in construction, were mostly empty Tuesday morning.
Acevedo told News 12 he received several phone calls Tuesday just before 7 a.m. from people alerting him to ICE agents walking their neighborhood and entering at least one home.
He said he learns of an ICE operation somewhere in the Mid-Hudson region a few times a week.
In a Zoom interview Tuesday morning, Acevedo said he is not just simply reminding residents not to let any officer in their homes without a search warrant but also advising them to prepare their children for the worst.
"Parents need to tell their kids — I hope it doesn't happen but it has happened already — that when you go to school, your parents might not be there when you come back," Acevedo said.
News 12 has reached out to ICE to inquire whether anyone was taken into ICE custody Tuesday morning and is awaiting a response.
