ICE in Charles Town!
Who are those masked men? Good guys or bad guys?
They’re here! They’re in our town!
West Virginia has fewer immigrants than any other state in this country. They are not taking away anyone’s jobs. They are not committing as many crimes as our home-grown citizens. They are helping our economy and providing some much-needed diversity. Why is ICE here?
And yet here they are.
On Friday, December 5, US Marshalls came into Charles Town and entered two of our oldest, best loved restaurants: Mi Degollado and La Mezzaluna. They came to arrest an individual who they believe committed a crime 27 years ago. I assume they were working on a backlog and finally discovered this person. Good for them. He surrendered himself peacefully.
ICE piggybacked on the US Marshalls’ case and invaded our restaurants. They entered peaceful places where we have taken our children for decades. Their stated job is to go after criminals and the “worst of the worst”, not invade our safe spaces and arrest people who they decide to call “illegal”. People aren’t illegal, actions are illegal. And ICE’s actions that night seem to be quite illegal.
They took six people away, but they certainly didn’t do so in a manner consistent with the rules of proper law enforcement. As I understand it, they didn’t clear the building. They caused staff, customers, and bystanders to suffer from pepper spray that was deployed near them. Everyone in the building underwent the trauma and confusion of an unnecessary raid when they were just trying to eat at a nice restaurant. Further, both restaurants suffered damage, a loss of business, and staff shortages. Worst yet, one man was severely beaten on his head and last I heard, he could face long term vision and maybe cerebral issues.
How can this happen in just eight miles from my home?
Is it a partisan thing? No, it isn’t. While I was getting my oil changed, I heard someone who was considerably more conservative than me talking about this tragedy. He was aghast that the place that “serves the best tacos anywhere”, was attacked. He voted for Trump, but he didn’t want ICE taking away his favorite cooks and waiters or ruining a local business that he loved.
What can we do about it? How can we make sure our government knows what happened in Charles Town was not acceptable?
We can write letters. We can write lots of letters. If you need help check out the “Take Action With Us” tab on the BlueJefferson.org website.
On the Federal level, we can write to our Senators and Representatives. Tell them that we don’t appreciate ICE coming into our town, or any US town, and breaking the laws. Tell them what happened here and that we don’t want them entering without warrants, harming bystanders, and hurting local businesses. And we don’t want them arresting people who have not committed any crimes. Ask them to make ICE follow our laws.
Tell our state legislators that we don’t want ICE coming to our towns, scaring our workers, traumatizing our people, and damaging our small businesses. We don’t want them committing crimes in the name of immigration control. This isn’t right.
It’s heart wrenching. And Jefferson County is rallying. A candlelight vigil at the Charles Town courthouse drew an estimated 170 people facing the cold to show their support. Others are supporting the damaged businesses by buying gift cards and just eating there. Some people have already written letters. It’s not too late for you to do that too. Remember to use copy and paste so you can reach more of your government representatives.
We are an amazing county, and we can make a difference.
