Last May, an undocumented immigrant named José Guzman-Lopez was arrested by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials in Ithaca. Although it was the first such detainment in recent Ithacan history, local politicians and policemen had predicted that it was not the last. This January, a series of arrests and detainments were made, less than a year after both the City of Ithaca and Tompkins County passed Sanctuary City legislation to restrict aid to enforcement of federal immigration law.
First, two men were arrested from their jobs at Taste of Thai. Somkiat Wandee was detained for “unknown reasons,” according to The Ithaca Voice. His coworker, Tatithan Maiyodklang from Thailand, allegedly missed an appointment with immigration officials, said the same report. Khaalid Walls, regional director of ICE communications, confirmed that “two [people] were arrested as part of ongoing enforcement activities in the region by the agency,” but he could not elaborate further. One report from The Cornell Daily Sun quoted a claim from the Tompkins County Immigrant Rights Coalition that the men had been arrested by undercover ICE officials posing as IPD officers, but neither ICE nor the Coalition has elaborated on that claim or provided evidence for or against it.
To some of those who had known them, the arrests were a shock. “I knew the detainees. I was friends with both of them, and I really liked them,” said Luke Monaghan ‘19, who had been a coworker of the two at Taste of Thai. He described them both as “very kind,” having “done nothing but be helpful and generous since I met them,” and in his mind “in no way harmful to the United States.” Monaghan said he was “fairly surprised to find out that they had been arrested.”
A week after the arrests and detainments of Wandee and Maiyodklang, an unnamed man was arrested for being an “unlawfully present foreign national.” The man is currently in custody, but no further information regarding him or the details of his arrest have been released.
The reaction to these arrests was swift and angry. The Coalition released a statement saying that “the ICE arrests of immigrants working in Ithaca are part of the Trump administration’s strategy to divide our communities between those who ‘deserve’ human rights and those who do not.” It continues, “the [coalition] calls on our community to deepen our support to those living and working with us, whether or not they have been granted official documentation.”
On Tuesday, February 6, a protest was held on the Commons against detainment of immigrants, as well as to discuss other prominent issues. That same evening, Somkiat Wandee was released on a $7,500 bond, and is no longer listed as “in custody” on the ICE website.
Mayor Svante Myrick has been vocal in his opposition to these arrests. He cited the fact that ICE and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) do not inform the Ithaca Police Department (IPD) when an immigration-related arrest is being made. The DHS alerts the IPD to their presence, but not the nature of the arrests. The sanctuary city status of Ithaca means that the IPD is not permitted to inquire about an individual’s immigration status in the event of an arrest, unless it pertains directly to a criminal investigation. However, that does not apply to arrests made within the DHS’s jurisdiction.
In public statements and in tweets, Mayor Myrick has repeatedly said that federal officials would have to put him “under the jail” before he would remove Ithaca’s sanctuary status. He also said, “I don’t like ICE coming into town, taking someone away, and not explaining who, what or why they did what they did.” Myrick continued to explain that the absence of information after Tuesday’s arrest, “breeds rumors, rumors create fear, and when people are afraid . . . bad things happen.” Myrick has continued to urge people, regardless of documentation, to call on the IPD if they feel that they have been a victim of a crime.