Apr. 6—SACKETS HARBOR — Ninety-year-old Jane Jenkins watched on Saturday afternoon as hundreds of marchers passed by her on their way to President Trump’s border czar’s lakefront home while she literally clung to a lamppost just a few doors down.
“I needed to be here,” she said. “I wanted to be here. We needed to be here.”
The town of Hounsfield resident arranged to stand in front of her friend’s home to express her outrage that a mother and her three children were taken by federal agents from a local farm and sent to a border detention center in Texas.
On this chilly, windy day along the Lake Ontario lake shore, she joined about 1,000 marchers who showed up at the Sackets Harbor home of Tom Homan, who is leading the federal government’s attempts to stem the flow of illegal immigration into the country.
It was important for Jenkins to participate in the march to Homan’s home, even though her legs would not allow her to walk that half-mile distance, she said.
Jenkins grew up in West Carthage when Homan — now a divisive figure in the nation’s immigration battle — was just a boy, she recalled.
Since the family was taken on March 27, she and other members of the community have come together in support of getting the mother and three Sackets Harbor school students back home.
Events began to unfold last Thursday when agents from U.S. Homeland Security Investigations executed a warrant at North Harbor Dairy on County Route 145 as part of an investigation into the alleged distribution of child pornography. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were part of the raid.
The mother and a third-, tenth- and 11th grader were swept up in the detainment. The three children were dragged out of their beds at 6 a.m., put into a van and taken away in handcuffs, advocates said.
Marcher Anne Jacobs said the family was taken without due process.
“ICE made a mistake,” she said. “ICE made a mistake for the entire community.”
The marchers, more than two blocks in length, started at the Sackets Village Visitors’ Center and made their way down to Homan’s home. There were so many that they practically covered the entire length of Bay View Place.
Marchers carried signs that read, “Bring our Kids Back,” “Power of the People Not People in Power,” “We are all immigrants Bring them Back” and “Tom Homan Took Our Kids,” Along the way, marchers shouted in unison, “bring them back.”
Sackets Social Studies teacher Joanna St. Croix, who teaches the two oldest children, said the school district has been hit hard by what happened.
“We need to do everything we can to get our students back,” she said during a rally before the march began.
At the visitors’ center, a single Trump supporter wearing a MAGA hat disrupted the speakers by yelling “Tom Homan is a local hero.” At one point, he opened his jacket and laid it on the ground to reveal a T-shirt with the infamous mug shot of Trump and the words “Never Surrender” underneath.
Some in the crowd confronted him, accusing Homan of kidnapping the children and spewing other disparaging remarks toward him. One woman placed a sign in his face that read, “Who will fight when they come 4 u.”
Three Jefferson County sheriff deputies started to intervene, but the situation never materialize to anything more.
Across the street from Homan’s home, a small group of counter protestors greeted the marchers with a large Trump 2024 sign and signs that criticized the crowd.
One counter protestor said he attended the march “to protect Americans.”
“What they’re doing is 100% wrong,” he said about the marchers.
None of the Trump supporters would give their names. One told a reporter to “go talk to the Democrats.”
Part of a large contingent of law enforcement, two patrol vehicles and three sheriff officials blocked Homan’s front yard from anyone getting on his property.
Deputies described the march, hosted by the Jefferson County Democratic Committee, as peaceful with no reports of incidents.
After the march, Corey Decillis, chairman of the Democratic committee, said he was surprised by the turnout, especially on such a gloomy day.
He was satisfied that the march was peaceful and called it a success.
On Friday, Homan, who frequents a local sandwich shop, showed up at the Main Street eatery with bodyguards. He told employees that he was getting out of Sackets Harbor on Saturday so he’d miss the march.