The Power of Bearing Witness
Text & Photos by Nancy
Note: the immigrant in this story has been de-identified for their own protection.
A fully employed legal immigrant presented at the Scarborough ICE facility for check-in on April 14, 2026. We were very concerned that they might be detained by ICE so their photo was taken when they arrived at the facility.
Many members from their church came to support them.
They had to lean down to receive hugs from many of their friends.
They had driven a long distance to get to the appointment. There was a significant delay because of understaffing at the ICE facility. Finally, they went in for their appointment.
We waited a long time in the sun for the immigrant to reappear from the ICE facility.
Finally, a moment of pure joy: The immigrant and their translator got the good news, and they got to go home. It was a fabulous day!
The Power of Bearing Witness ~ what we know now
On Tuesday, April 14th, 2026 activists from southern Maine and New Hampshire collaborated in support of a New Hampshire immigrant (here after referred to as "NHI" for the sake of privacy and security) who was coming to the Scarborough ICE facility for a regular check-in appointment. It seemed a bit odd, all the hubbub and such, especially since the southern Maine activists, who had been protesting at the Scarborough ICE facility for a while, didn't see anything unusual with how the immigrants came and went from the facility. We were wrong.
After NHI’s appointment at the ICE facility on 4/14/2026, we received information about what occurred inside the facility during their appointment:
· When NHI first went in for their appointment they were immediately handcuffed.
· ICE tried to force NHI to sign a travel agreement so NHI could be deported to Mexico. NHI is from Haiti and has protections under the Convention Against Torture (CAT), so ICE could not deport them to Haiti. So, ICE was trying to send them to Mexico.
· NHI had enough presence of mind to insist not to sign anything until after they had spoken with their attorney.
· ICE eventually gave up and called NHI’s attorney. The attorney read ICE the riot act and said that ICE had no right or reason to deport NHI, who was complying with all legal requirements. It would endanger NHI's life to be deported to a third country (Mexico) because they were likely to get deported to Haiti from there. ICE was influenced by (a) the vigil of 40 to 50 activists standing outside ICE’s front door and (b) the tenacious lawyer who was representing NHI: eventually ICE relented and NHI was released from the Scarborough ICE facility.