In late July, two agents from Immigration and Customs Enforcement attempted to stop an immigrant man who was driving in his van with his 12-year-old son. Instead of pulling over, the man drove back to his home and parked in the driveway, where ICE agents proceeded to block him in and try to coax him out of the van. They wanted to arrest him. But the man’s neighbors weren’t having it. Soon a crowd had gathered, made up of neighbors, immigrant advocates and an attorney. They brought the man and his son food and water, and refueled the van so that they could wait out the agents who did not have the legal right to forcibly remove him from his car. Eventually, the ICE agents left, and one of the man’s neighbors bluntly summed up the standoff: “They came to the wrong community on the wrong day.” STEVEN HALE
Best Neighbors
Hermitage Residents vs. ICE
