Hundreds of parents, teachers and elected officials protested in front of the federal building downtown Thursday, demanding the release of the Haitian boy who was taken into federal custody last week.
Video of the 8-year-old being escorted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents with his hands in front of him received swift condemnation from local and Congressional officials.
On Tuesday, Reps. Juan Vargas, Sara Jacobs, Scott Peters and Mike Levin, as well as Sens. Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff, sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security and Health and Human Services demanding to know the boy's whereabouts and what steps the government has taken to reunite him with his family.
The crowd in front of the Edward J. Schwartz Federal Building was equally incensed. Chanting, “Bring him home, bring him home.”
“I feel angry. I feel frustrated,” Jenny Fasone said. “I also feel empowered to be out here and say something, do something.”
She has a son at San Diego Unified School District (SDUSD). When she saw the video of the Haitian boy and ICE officers, she said she felt a flood of emotions.
“Visceral emotions to see that child being taken away by those two men,” Fascone said.
The video has garnered national attention. San Diego City Councilmember Sean Elo-Rivera, who represents the district where the boy and his family live, said there are others like him.
“What happens to the stories that aren't told,” he said. “The children who are taken without people even knowing about it.”
Elo-Rivera said that even with the community, two senators and the entire San Diego Democratic delegation asking for the child’s release, he is still in custody.
ICE said it could not determine who the legal guardian is, so they took the boy into custody. He had been living with his uncle after his father was deported last year.
SDUSD said school records indicated that the uncle was the point of contact and that he has the same last name as the child.
Dorchella James, a counselor at Fay Elementary, where this third-grader attended, said many students were asking questions about the incident.
“I don’t have any of those answers,” she said. “(We’re) allowing them to feel their emotions. They’re just sad and angry.”
The school district has sent crisis counselors for the students and staff. But Principal Johana Bielma said the incident has disrupted learning and students’ well-being.
“It is hard to learn when students are in constant fear,” she said. “And at the school, we are doing our best to provide resources for the students and the staff.”
The boy has been in the custody of Health and Human Services. The agency has yet to respond to KPBS’ multiple requests asking where he is being kept.
