Rally Against ICE Raids Held On Long Island Sunday: 'Courage, Love — Collective Action'

BRENTWOOD, NY — Since President Donald Trump took office ICE agents have detained immigrants at routine immigration check-ins and during raids around Long Island, with multiple confirmed ICE sightings and Suffolk County residents being detained since, according to advocacy groups.

Now, in what they say is a "fight to keep families together", a rally has been planned to speak out against ICE raids on Sunday, June 22, at noon, beginning at the intersection of Washington and Suffolk Avenues in Brentwood.

Community empowerment organization Islip Forward is hosting the rally, and organizers say it will be a "peaceful rally."

"The rally calls for greater transparency and accountability in federal enforcement practices," IF's Director of Media Christian Colón told Patch.

The rally follows the June 11 detention of Nuvia Martinez Ventura, a mother of five living in Brentwood who was detained at a routine immigration check-in at 26 Federal Plaza in New York City and sent to a Houston detention center where she faces deportation, her attorney, Ala Amoachi, told Patch on Wednesday.

Amoachi said Martinez Ventura has no criminal record and came to the United States from El Salvador seeking asylum to escape violence in her home country after gangs killed the father of her children, Amoachi said.

According to the ICE website, Martinez Ventura is currently in custody at the Houston Contract Detention Facility, one of three detention centers in Houston.

Her children, ages 3, 4, 7, 10 and 11, are now staying with extended family. Amoachi said that one child is currently hospitalized due to Type 1 diabetes complications, something the attorney alleged hospital staff have been unable to stabilize and that Amoachi said Martinez Ventura managed with precision.

In January, after they said several ICE raids were confirmed on Long Island, IF launched its ICE tracker, a community-driven platform created to address both verified and false reports of ICE sightings around Islip. Six months and what they maintain are 28 verified ICE sightings later, IF said the tracker has "surged past 60,000 uses since its launch," and the rally announcement has reached over 250,000 people.

But Saturday is about a peaceful rally to "call for greater transparency and accountability in federal enforcement practices," Colón said.

"We stand firmly against the cruel and unnecessary detention of immigrant families, especially those like Nuvia’s who are seeking asylum after fleeing violence. Cases like Nuvia’s destroy public trust, tear families apart, and creates fear in our communities," he said.

IF said elected officials, legal experts, community organizers and families impacted by ICE are all expected to attend the rally. In addition, the event will feature 10 speakers including New York State Assemblyman Phil Ramos, Islip Forward's founder, Ahmad Perez, Pilar Moya of Latinos United of Long Island, along with other community members calling for immediate policy changes and a permanent end to indiscriminate enforcement actions, IF said.

In a statement, organizers said, "Violence has no presence in our movement — only courage, love and the power of collective action."