Addressing the man in handcuffs, a woman speaking in the video calls out in Spanish to offer help as three masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents lead the man into an unmarked SUV at Gates Avenue and Union Street in Montclair Tuesday evening.
It was one among a spate of recent ICE detentions that have prompted community members to connect on encrypted chats and respond in coordination to help detainees and their families, residents and officials said in interviews with Montclair Local.
Among the local responders at the scene Tuesday was Michelle Ashley, a Montclair resident who said she had attended a training at Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Montclair earlier in the year during which she learned how to help when ICE comes. She pivoted from walking her dog to the scene.
Community Responder
“I went to that corner and they were all gone. I just stood there and waited to see if someone would come and they did come and they knew the person who had been taken,” Ashley, 45, said. “And other responders were able to connect as well, exchange information and give him information to give to the wife.”…