By BRIAN DONOHUE
The marchers were mostly local youth, several of whom said their families had been directly impacted by the wave of detentions and deportations.
Some were as young as six years old.
They gathered at a vacant auto garage parking lot at Shrewsbury Avenue and Catherine Street where ICE agents had been seen parked in unmarked cars in recent days. They marched down Shrewsbury Avenue to the Red Bank train station, where they rallied for a half hour then marched back along Bridge Avenue where they continued chanting as drivers passing by honked, mostly in support.
They were joined by roughly a dozen adult community members, including Deputy Mayor Kate Triggiano, Borough Council members Ben Forest and Kristina Bonatakis.
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At the head of the march was a woman who identified herself as Rosemary, a Lakewood resident who declined to have her last name published out of fear of retribution.
A retired US Marine, she said she and others had recently launched an organization called La Voz del Pueblo that was seeking to get younger second-generation children of immigrants involved in pushing back against the immigration crackdowns.
Numerous studies and analyses of ICE detention data have shown the majority of those arrested in nationwide sweeps have no criminal record.
“All we are doing is demanding justice, dignity and due process for our people,” she said. “When they’re coming out to get people they’re not coming out to get criminals like they said they would, which is where we draw the line.
Rosemary said both her brother and father had been deported.
“We understand (the detention of) criminals and all that, but we don’t understand our parents going to work, our parents dropping off kids to school. They’re picking up people in work boots,” she said. “I swore an oath to the Constitution, and this is not the Constitution I swore an oath to.”
redbankgreen editor Brian Donohue may be reached via email at [email protected] or by calling or texting 848-331-8331.
