ICE violence will never be welcome here

On Oct. 8, a man was shot in the neck by a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent in front of a 5-year-old believed to be his son. What has followed in the ongoing aftermath has been waves of fear and anger that continue to ripple through the community, and the city at large.

This is not the first instance of ICE agents detaining one of our community members. In March, local student Dylan Contreras was released after 10 months of ICE detention. The ELLIS Preparatory Academy student was detained by agents at a scheduled immigration hearing. More recently, residents of the Marble Hill area have told The Press they have been fearful of what appears to be an increase in ICE presence in the neighborhood prior to the shooting.

Likewise, this is not the first time The Press has written to speak out against ICE’s actions in the community. It is not even the first time this year. But it often happens that the time when there seem to be no new words left to say on an issue is the time when it is more important than ever to speak up.

Seven shots. Officials confirmed seven shots were fired. Fired while a young child sat in the backseat of the car. In an area where New Yorkers live and work, where children walk home after school on afternoons just like that one.

What reverberated through the neighborhood in the echo of those gunshots was, largely, frustration. Residents shouted across the lines of police tape at the scene of the shooting, expressing their resentment. As a rally broke out and chants pierced the night sky, that frustration became even more apparent. Even as elected officials spoke over loudspeakers, echoing the anger of the protesters surrounding them, responding calls of “Thoughts and prayers aren’t enough” and “What are you going to do about it?” were tossed back at them.

In those calls was the sense that outrage is no longer enough. Sorrow is no longer enough. Only action, only change can begin to heal the aching wounds that reopen each time a member of the community becomes a headline at the hands of federal agents.

Inciting fear, moving through streets stacked with homes and businesses, weapons drawn — that is not what makes a community safer.

The community members who spoke to our reporters at the scene, who described seeing a neighbor sitting on the pavement, bleeding, pleading — they did not feel safer in that moment.

Regardless of past arrests or documentation statuses, humans deserve humanity. New York’s tapestry of diverse, vibrant communities deserve to live with faith in justice rather than pervasive fear.

Immigrants are the lifeblood of New York, of Marble Hill. People from all over the world have played enormous parts in building this city from the ground up, breathing life into it through culture, entrepreneurship and a drive to carve out a life to be proud of.

To those who need the reminder: Marble Hill is not enemy territory, and its people are not enemies.