'It's pure racism': Suffolk community reels over recent ICE arrests of 3 men

More than 100 people gathered on Front Street in Greenport on Sunday to protest U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement after federal agents last week arrested three longtime Latino residents.

Bracing extreme wind chills, protesters bundled in ski suits, hugged one another and discussed the week’s events. One small group arrived by ferry from Shelter Island, and nearly every passing driver in the town of 2,200 honked to show support.

As music from Bad Bunny — a vocal opponent of ICE who performed at the Super Bowl on Sunday — blasted, Rosa Valladares stood among the crowd holding a protest sign in Spanish that read, "Kids need protection. Not trauma, not fear."

"I feel so sad," Valladares, 39, who immigrated to Greenport 14 years ago with two children, said through tears. "I don’t know what’s going to happen tomorrow. ... We have to be strong together and pray."

Federal immigration agents early Wednesday arrested three immigrant men who have lived in Greenport for more than 20 years and have no criminal history, community leaders said. One is a father of six, and another just had a newborn baby. The whereabouts of the three men remain unclear.

Panic spread quickly through the East End village that morning. A quarter of students in the Greenport school district, which is more than 65% Latino, the mayor said, stayed home from school. Officials kept seventh through 12th graders inside during lunch.

The immigration status of the three men — Alexandro Rivera Magaña, Martir Zambrano Diaz and Hugo Leonel Ardon Osorio — was not immediately clear.

ICE officials did not respond to an inquiry about why they were arrested.

About 45% of Suffolk County immigrants without permanent legal status — at least 30,000 people — have been in the United States for 20 or more years, according to the Migration Policy Institute. The same is true for 50% of immigrants without permanent legal status in Nassau.

"Our immigrant neighbors are the backbone of the North Fork. They’re the labor hands that sustain our local wineries ... the line cooks and dishwashers in our local restaurants, the teams that clean our homes and hotel rooms," said Maria Soriano, 29.

Soriano, who emigrated from Mexico to Greenport at age 2, works at Sunset Beach Hotel in Shelter Island.

Also Sunday, about 50 people responded to a parking lot at a Suffolk Credit Union in Riverhead after reports of ICE agents apparently photographing a man, according to Amy Kurtz, who said she witnessed the incident. A crowd of protesters were yelling and blowing whistles at a vehicle with ICE agents inside as local and state police officers looked on, Kurtz said.

The incident mirrored another in Brentwood on Tuesday, when more than two dozen protesters yelled, honked horns and blew whistles at ICE agents.

Criticism of ICE is becoming louder and more public on Long Island, with voter sentiment shifting and advocates heckling congressional members in public forums. As President Donald Trump comes under increased scrutiny for his mass deportation agenda, a Siena Research Institute-New York Times poll found a majority of American voters say ICE tactics have "gone too far."

Some Republican lawmakers in Washington split from their party after federal agents fatally shot Alex Pretti, the second American citizen killed last month by officers in Minneapolis.

Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-Bayport), chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, will oversee a key congressional hearing this week with top immigration officials expected to testify. He’s pushed back on the Trump administration limiting congressional oversight, including when officials banned impromptu visits to ICE jails.

For Greenport Mayor Kevin Stuessi, the effect of ICE enforcement goes beyond party lines.

"What’s happening is way beyond politics. This is about human rights," he said. It’s about "doing what’s right for our neighbors."

More than half of the village population is Latino, Stuessi said, with many immigrants working in vineyards, restaurants, local hospitals and the Peconic Landing retirement community.

"Our economy out here would collapse without them," said Diana Voelker, 79, who’s lived in Greenport since 2014. "It’s pure racism. You can’t disguise it."

Rivera Magaña, 46, one of the men arrested Wednesday, worked in local vineyards for more than a decade, according to his wife, who previously spoke to Newsday. He left for work at 6:30 a.m. and was arrested with his co-worker, Zambrano Diaz, about 10 minutes later, she said.

The couple’s six children, one of whom is autistic, are now under the sole care of their mother, who works as a part-time restaurant worker.

The third man, Ardon Osorio, and his wife had a baby two weeks ago.

"What has been happening in the United States over the past year is one of the darkest times in modern history," said Assemb. Tommy John Schiavoni (D-Sag Harbor). "It’s probably going to get worse before it gets better."