Federal police active Sunday morning in Greenport
According to witnesses, five vehicles with personnel from several federal agencies, including ICE, were active in Greenport Sunday morning.
The first reported staging site was the Greenport Laundromat on Adams Street, where sources confirmed to Times Review that agents approached several men and possibly detained two. This comes after two people were detained by federal authorities in Greenport on July 26.
Witnesses said they then saw the agents at the end of Ludlam Place, where a resident was delivered a court appearance document. A photo of the Form G-56 document from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Field Office Director was shared with The Suffolk Times, but was not released for publication.
Agents were witnessed knocking on a resident’s door on Fourth Avenue and Front Street. The person they spoke to said the agents inquired about a resident and did not identify themselves.
Shortly after, the agents engaged in conversation with a Hispanic man exiting his truck. They did not detain him, and refused to give name and badge number information when it was requested.
Homeland Security Investigation; the Federal Bureau of Investigation; the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives; and another vehicle marked only as “Federal Police” were all witnessed and documented as present Sunday. Southold Police Department were not witnessed as being present at the time, but Greenport Mayor Kevin Stuessi and other residents were observed patrolling.
Mayor Steussi did not respond to numerous requests for comment.
“Our headquarters was contacted Sunday morning by immigration authorities informing us that they would be operating in the Greenport area,” Southold Police Chief Steven Grattan said. “That is all the information I have at this time.”
Minerva Perez, executive director of OLA of Eastern Long Island, confirmed the presence and said that at least three families were impacted. She and the organization are currently working with the families. She said that, along with the activity, she can also verify that “they did not take or only impact people who were on some sort of a list of hard-line criminals.”
“These are people that are in the area with no criminality, one of them in the area for 19 years,” Ms. Perez said. “No criminal background whatsoever, and yet just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. That was enough for this ICE action to happen.”
An anonymous family friend, who also took the video above, claims the man was here legally with a work permit. They claim the man was born in El Salvador, and his children are both citizens.
“Those were his kids crying in the video. They were terrified,” they said. “All he was doing was going on a bike ride with his kids. Their mom, his wife, is also here legally and has a work permit.”
This is a developing story and will be updated as more confirmed information is made available.
