25% of Greenport students stayed out of school fearing ICE raids

One-quarter of students in the Greenport school district stayed out of school yesterday as reports of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and arrests swept through the community, creating fear, chaos and anger, according to officials and advocates.Three longtime area residents with no criminal records reportedly since their arrival in the U.S. were arrested by federal agents as part of President Donald Trump's mass deportation campaign, Latino community leaders said. They identified them as Alexandro Rivera Magaña, Martir Zambrano Diaz and Hugo Leonel Ardon Osorio.Bart Jones and Randee Daddona report in NEWSDAY that the ICE enforcement action, one of the most visible on the East End in months, stirred panic and frustration across Greenport Village as advocates called it a troubling escalation after weeks of anti-ICE demonstrations across Suffolk County.Southold Town Police Chief Steve Grattan confirmed ICE was in Greenport on Wednesday but said he had not received information from the agency about arrests. Greenport Superintendent of Schools Beth Doyle said many families kept their children home, most likely out of fear of the agents’ presence. The district decided to keep all students on campus throughout the day and not allow seventh through 12th graders to leave for lunch as they typically can, she said.Greenport Mayor Kevin Stuessi denounced the raids. "It's a tragedy to see parents being separated from children, and then doubly troubling to see all the fear with local students and families as federal agents were swarming the village this morning," he said.Residents described early morning scenes of chaos as agents barreled down village streets in pursuit of migrants. Some residents came out blowing whistles, filming the agents and telling them to get out of the community.***Some bus stops in Nassau and Suffolk counties remain buried in snow and inaccessible to riders nearly two weeks after a major storm hit Long Island.Nicholas Spangler reports in NEWSDAY that Long Island’s bus passengers are far outnumbered by its rail passengers, who make the Long Island Rail Road the busiest commuter railroad on the continent, but they still total in the tens of thousands each weekday.Some of them now face streetside shelters that are filled with snow or offer limited or no access to the street because of snow or ice…including several bus stops here on the east end where riders have been seen standing dangerously in the road while awaiting the S-92 Greenport to East Hampton bus. Meteorologists say temperatures warm enough to melt the snow and ice won't come until next Wednesday at the earliest.Suffolk County spokesperson Michael Martino said for 2,224 bus stops, "crews continue to clear snow from bus stops across the county. If there is a location that needs to be addressed, residents are asked to call the county’s 311 line to report the issue."But responsibility is complicated for the 302 stops with shelters. Of those, 136 are owned by Suffolk County, 95 by advertisers contracted by the towns where they are located, 19 by the New York State Department of Transportation and 51 by private companies. They, not the county, are responsible for clearing the snow from their shelters, Martino said.***The Town of Southampton Youth Bureau is offering teens a chance to gain valuable skills and confidence through The Babysitters Club, a free program designed to help participants become responsible, capable, and professional babysitters.Running on Thursdays from February 26 through April 2, from 4:30 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Hampton Bays Community Center, the program is open to youth ages 14 to 18. Space is limited to 20 participants, so early registration is encouraged.Throughout the six-week program, teens will learn essential child safety practices, explore the stages of child development, and develop fun, age-appropriate activities for children. The curriculum also includes basic CPR and first aid-training, along with job readiness and leadership skills aimed at building confidence, responsibility, and professionalism.To register, visit southamptontownny.gov/ybactivities or call the Southampton Youth Bureau at 631-702-2425 for more information.***Brothers Josue and Jose Trejo Lopez spent more than nine years in Georgia and Central Islip living all-American lives: earning high school diplomas, teaching Sunday school, joining the Air Force Junior ROTC, and eating New York pizza. Their slightly accented English is peppered with American slang. Now, a decade after their mother brought them to the United States as kids, Josue, 20, and Jose, 21, spend most of their time in a small cinderblock house in El Salvador, thousands of miles from their mother, brother, other relatives and friends, in a country where they were born but feel like foreigners. David Olson reports in NEWSDAY that the brothers returned to El Salvador in shackles last May, grasping only white plastic bags with the clothes and legal documents they had when immigration agents arrested them, along with two Bibles they got at an upstate detention center. Their years growing up in the United States didn’t prevent their deportation, nor did their lack of criminal records after entering the U.S. nor a finding from a Suffolk County judge that they should not be sent away.They and their mother, Alma Lopez, 38, crossed the border on foot into Texas in 2016, when Josue was 10 and Jose was 11.Regarding this case an ICE spokesperson said in a statement, "All aliens in violation of U.S. immigration law may be subject to arrest, detention and, if found removable by final order, removed from the U.S." The Trejo Lopez brothers were twice ordered removed from the country, and in 2019, they lost an appeal, leaving them with a standing deportation order, ICE said. Nearly three in four people — including Josue and Jose — in ICE detention have no criminal convictions reported after arriving in the U.S. Arrests of immigrants when they show up for ICE check-ins were rare until the second Trump administration, experts said.***Three east end residents were reportedly apprehended by agents of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement in Greenport Wednesday morning. Minerva Perez, Executive Director of OLA of Eastern Long Island said a Rapid Response network documented yesterday's raids. Ms. Perez is working with Southold Town officials on a resolution regarding public safety in the wake of this and other raids. Ms. Perez said the three men arrested yesterday had all lived in the area for more than 20 years and had no criminal record. One has a newborn baby, she added. An OLA press alert sent last night identified the three men as Alexandro Rivera Magaña, Martir Zambrano Diaz and Hugo Leonel Ardon Osorio. "It's a terrible feeling to see a community that is a healthy, peaceful community broken apart like this," stated the OLA director. “At this point we know they have no criminal background, have been here for 20+ years, and we have no idea of their whereabouts,” Ms. Perez said. “Most importantly, we need to bring these men home.”OLA (Organización Latino Americana) serves immigrant and US-born Latinos working and/or living in the villages and hamlets of the Towns of East Hampton, Southampton, Riverhead, Southold, and Shelter Island.***The East Hampton Healthcare Foundation will sponsor a free community Health Fair at the St. Luke’s Church, 18 James Lane, East Hampton, this coming Friday…that’s tomorrow from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.Highlights will include flu shots, glucose exams, blood pressure screenings, and applications for colorectal screenings. Also available will be appointments for no-cost mammogram and pap smear tests for uninsured women over the age of 40.Representatives and information will be on hand from health insurance and local community organizations.All residents are invited to attend.That’s tomorrow at 11 a.m. in St. Luke’s Church in East Hampton.***The United States Golf Association will begin construction this month on the infrastructure for the 126th U.S. Open Championship at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club, with work steadily ramping up into the spring ahead of the June 15 start of the tournament. The final day is Sunday, June 21st. Michael Wright reports on 27east.com that the USGA says it expects as many as 150,000 people to stroll back and forth through the tournament grounds over the course of tournament week. The championship’s manager, John Ryan Celiberti, said last week the challenges in getting those people onto the South Fork and into the tournament grounds, with as little impact on the everyday lives of those not visiting the club, is the top priority for organizers. Parking and transportation, as usual, will be the biggest hurdles. The tournament again will use the Elks Club property on County Road 39, the Stony Brook Southampton campus and — unlike in 2018 — areas of the Shinnecock Territory as part of its logistics scheme.However, the main offsite parking area for this year’s tournament will be at the EPCAL industrial park at the former Grumman aircraft plant in Calverton.In 2018, the USGA used Gabreski Airport in Westhampton as the main parking site, but extensive new development at the airport in the years since has eaten up most of the open areas used for parking.“We know that is going to add travel time for fans coming to the championships,” Celiberti said of the Calverton site.In 2018, shuttle buses from the offsite parking in Westhampton were caught in snarled...