Two men who work at restaurants uptown and live in Montclair were taken into custody by federal immigration agents on the morning of October 22 on Bloomfield Avenue, between New Street and Hartley Street.
They are the latest people detained by ICE in Montclair since August. Advocates told the outlet the arrests have targeted restaurant and construction workers. Each time, the first accounts came from neighbors, co-workers and volunteers. Not the township. Not the police.
Where ICE Has Made Arrests in Montclair Since August
The arrests began on Aug. 19, when two Raymond’s kitchen workers were detained on their way to work on Bloomfield Avenue, as The Pod reported at the time. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement later told Montclair Local the two were among six people detained in the Montclair area during what it called routine enforcement. Bridget Capawanna, a server at Raymond’s, told Montclair Local: “We can’t do anything about it.”
The next arrests came on Sept. 14, a block from Charles H. Bullock Elementary School, as families headed to school. Agents stopped a pickup truck at the Exxon station at Elm Street and Bloomfield Avenue, according to residents and video reviewed by Montclair Local. The video showed masked agents in vests marked “ERO,” for Enforcement and Removal Operations, the branch of ICE that makes arrests and carries out deportations. Montclair Local first reported four men detained and later reported five, all construction workers…