Stop the trauma, ICE

Why are we continually traumatizing human beings?

My name is Nicole Abate Ducarroz and I am a 21-year resident of Glen Ellen, as well as having served on the local school board for over 15 years.  I am a wife, and a mother of three, and a retired software engineer.

A couple of weeks ago, my neighbor got blindsided by ICE at the Glen Ellen Post Office as she was paying her bills.  Thankfully it was not a day that she was watching her toddler grandson, while the parents work.  ICE was waiting for her. They took her to San Francisco and held her at Immigration, telling her they were going to deport her the following day to Mexico. Really? Is that where my tax money goes? To arrest and detain grandmothers?

This is a 60-year-old wonderful woman who worked for the State for over 20 years serving handicapped people. This is a woman who was married to an American citizen, whose three children are also American citizens.

Why does ICE have so much time to arrest an upstanding citizen?  If they would have done their research before dispatching four agents to Glen Ellen, then have them drive all the way to SF with her, during a pandemic, they would have found a very horribly sad story.  If they would have done their research, they would have seen that at the time when she had a court date to renew her green card, her daughter and granddaughter were tragically killed by a drunk driver while on their way to school on Hwy 12 (Just after the 2017 fires devastated our area!).  So from that point on, you can imagine, the only thing on your mind is survival!

If ICE would have done their research, they would have found out that she has been a devoted mother for over 30 years in America.  But instead of doing their research, they decided that more trauma put on her was more important than finding out facts and treating her as a human being.

Luckily, Sonoma County has a quick response network and there happened to be a lawyer there who was able to put a stop to her deportation and allow her to come home.  However, her car needed to be towed home, her son had to drive to pick her up, etc, etc. The expense alone is a lot, not to mention the mental trauma thinking she would never see her children and grandson ever again.

Stop. This. Madness. ICE. Treat people like the human beings they are. Each case merits personal attention. And if you are making mistakes, then own up to it, and fix it!

If this happens to you, or you see it happening, call The Sonoma hotline number:  707.800.4544

— Nicole Abaté Ducarroz, Glen Ellen