ICE spreads fear in Greenport, without regard

The revitalization of Greenport from a rundown North Fork village to a thriving Long Island destination would never have happened without the migration of Latinos from Mexico and Central America that began more than three decades ago. 

The village's Latino population is now significant, at least 35% by some estimates, and likely a good slice of those residents are living there without legal authorization. While that makes it unsurprising that ICE agents showed up there at 6:30 a.m. last Wednesday, its targeting of this particular place clearly illuminates the contradictions and randomness of the Trump administration's deportation policies and its total disregard for its consequences.

On that morning, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents who had been circling the area for a few days — long enough to make 25% of Greenport's school population afraid to show up for classes — arrested three men with deep roots in their area. Identified by OLA of Eastern Long Island as Hugo Leonel Ardon Osorio, Martir Zambrano Diaz and Alexandro Rivera Magaña, the organization said the men had no criminal records, had families and lived in the village for at least 20 years. 

One was a longtime employee at a Shelter Island masonry company who had just welcomed a newborn daughter, and two others worked at Pindar Vineyards in Peconic, according to The Suffolk Times. ICE has provided no information to local law enforcement and government officials who are seeking some clarity about why the three men were targeted and their current status or whereabouts.

President Donald Trump, in responding to the growing resistance to his deportation tactics, continues to insists his administration's goal is to remove "the worst of the worst." That's not what's happening. Records show most of those detained last year had no criminal record. Instead these arrests seem designed to strike terror in a community.

Local officials say ICE is sowing fear and destroying the relationships police departments have with their migrant communities. And with little communication from their federal counterparts, local officials are concerned about maintaining public safety especially now that anti-ICE demonstrations are taking place.

Businesses are worried about what happens if migrants flee the area and new workers fail to show up. 

Former Greenport Mayor Dave Kapell, one of the architects of the village's renaissance, told the editorial board that deportations were "the biggest threat to the well being of the village since the shipyards closed at the end of WWII. It took us 50 years to come back from that." 

Kapell says deporting the approximately 20% of the Latino community that may be undocumented would be an "absolute disaster" because it would hollow out the economy not only of Greenport but much of the North Fork where wineries and agriculture are the major drivers.

Trump cannot deport everyone without authorization, nor is there a plan to provide hardworking established community members, including those whose underage children may be citizens, with a path for legal status. What's happening in Greenport clearly shows how flawed these policies are.