On Saturday, people gathered across the United States for thousands of "Hands Off" protests, where demonstrators voiced their anger and frustration towards the Trump Administration for some of its recent actions.
In New York, nearly 4,000 people gathered in Syracuse, a "conservative estimate" of 4,500 took part in protests in Buffalo, several thousand more took part in protests in Rochester, and the Southern Tier.
In the North Country, protests were held in Plattsburgh, Potsdam, Watertown, Massena, Saranac Lake, and Elizabethtown. They drew crowds of between 200 and 500 people.
But the largest gathering in the region happened in the small community of Sackets Harbor.
Just under 1,000 people rallied to call for the return of three children who were detained during an ICE dairy farm investigation. They met on the green lawn in front of the Sackets Harbor Visitors Center.
Jonna St. Croix is a social studies teacher at Sackets Harbor Central School and president of the Teachers Association. She said in a school as small as theirs, everyone knows the three children who disappeared two Thursdays ago, on March 27.
"When there is an empty desk in the classroom, it is very evident, and we miss them," said St. Croix.
One of the students is in elementary school, the other two are high schoolers. St. Croix teaches the two teenagers.
"They're polite, they're great kids. Every morning I see them, they have smiles on their faces and they say, 'Good morning, miss,'" she said. "I see the younger one in the hallway every day. Some students made a welcome home sign for his desk. And it's still sitting there, and we hope he gets to see it soon."
The community is now wrestling with the reality of President Trump’s immigration crackdown, which many people support, and their own love and care for these children. The school is the center of life in Sackets Harbor, and three students who have been there for years are gone.
On March 27, seven people, including these three children and their mother, were detained when U.S. Customs and Border Patrol executed a warrant on a dairy farm outside of Sackets Harbor.
They were looking for a South African national who was found and charged with possession of child pornography. CBP said in a statement that the other seven people were separate from that investigation, but deemed to be in the country illegally, and were turned over to ICE. They were then moved to a detention center in Texas, and the CBP says they are "awaiting removal proceedings."
In a statement released just before the rally, Sackets Harbor Principal Jaime Cook said her students were doing everything right, writing, "They had declared themselves to immigration judges, attended court on their assigned dates, and were following the legal process. They are not criminals.”
Cook also refuted claims by Border Czar Tom Homan that the children were detained for their safety, and as potential victims and witnesses to the child pornography case.
She said school officials have been in direct communication with the students.
“Let me be clear: they are not being medically evaluated. They are not being questioned as potential victims. Calling a detention center by another name does not change what it is,” Cook wrote in a statement.
People from Sackets Harbor and many surrounding Jefferson County towns were at the rally. Danielle and James Jones live on Wellsley Island. Danielle was holding a sign that read, "People are not illegal."
"Laws are legal. Actions are legal, not human beings and human lives," said Jones. "We're just here to support the human beings that are kind of being left out of the equation of all these executive decisions [from the Trump administration]."
There's a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol station on Wellsley Island. Jones said that CBP agents are friends and neighbors. But now she’s seeing them through a new lens.
"I don't like looking at them accusatory, you know. And I feel threatened by them if they're doing that to people that are going through legal processes," she said. "What’s to stop them from doing that to us just because we dissent?"
James Jones served 22 years as a U.S. Army infantryman. His stepfather was Mexican, and he says if every illegal immigrant were deported tomorrow, the U.S. economy would shut down. He also grew up in Texas and worked alongside migrant laborers in farm fields. He says everyone is just trying to survive in the world.
"That's what we're all trying to do, is survive. It's not illegal to take care of your family and, you know, seek a different life or to get away from violence," he said.
The crowd grew from 200 to 300 to 500 people. People had come from Syracuse, Lowville, Gouverneur and Waddington.
Ranjit Dighe held a sign with Bible scripture on it, "What you did for the least of these you did for me," from Matthew 25:40.
"These kids are the 'least of these'...the government, right now, is trying to do what it wants with them," said Dighe. "That's wrong. I mean, I think that's really an affront to all of us."
Betsy McTiernan, who is also from Oswego, was in tears when we spoke. She said people where she lives have also been detained, and she feels helpless.
"We can't find out where people go," she said. "We can try to speak to our Republican representatives in our county. We don't get answers. We don't get responses."
She said immigrants are not a problem in Oswego County or in Northern New York.
"They're not criminals, there's not gangs running anything. These are just our neighbors," she said.
A few people speak on the lawn, including Pastor Jennifer Stamm from the First United Methodist Church in Watertown.
"This isn't about politics. This is about protection," she said to cheers. "It's not about left or right. It's about what is right."
Then, the crowd started to move; the plan was to walk to Border Czar Tom Homan’s lakefront vacation home, about a mile from downtown. People chanted, "Tom Homan took our children!" as they poured onto the street, which law enforcement had blocked off.
The crowd swelled as people joined the march from side streets, to a peak of what law enforcement officials said was just under a thousand people.
People walked down Ontario Street ten abreast in what felt like a never-ending line, small children sitting on their parents’ shoulders for the journey.
Mabel Tso traveled up to the rally from New York City and is with the New York Civil Liberties Union. She took Amtrak, then carpooled with members of other organizations, including the New York Immigration Coalition. Tso said they came to show their support for the teachers and community members calling for the children’s return.
She was a little surprised by the big turnout.
"This is incredible. This is a small, red-leaning town, and people are really upset. They just want them back to be in school and to be with this caring community," said Tso.
The stream of people reached its destination in front of Tom Homan’s vacation home, where several police cars were parked. A small group of about ten anti-protesters stood holding American, Trump 2024, and Don’t Tread On Me flags. They yelled at the people rallying, and those rallying yelled back.
Don Pitcher lives in Sackets Harbor and was one of the anti-protesters. He said this is a hard situation, and that his own kids attend Sackets Harbor and are friends with the detained children. He said his daughter came home crying.
"She knows where I stand on immigration, and she's looking at me, asking, ‘Why them?’ I try to explain it to her. It's tough. It's real tough. They're still hurting. The whole school's hurting."
Pitcher said his home is not far from the dairy farm where the family lived. He says it’s unfortunate the children and other hard-working dairy workers were picked up as collateral damage when the CBP was rightfully looking for a criminal.
"It's not about the children, it's about the pedophile, and the people who brought these people here to our community illegally," said Pitcher.
He said he fully supports the border czar’s deportation efforts.
"Bottom line is you got to be here on a work visa, have a green card or come here legally," said Pitcher. "When you don't, this is your consequence."
Suzanne Preston came with her two children to the rally. She’s a teacher at Sackets Harbor and said she knows these kids.
"We just want due process for these kids. We know their situation and we know what they've been through, and we just want what's fair for them," said Preston.
Preston teaches social studies and government. "The Bill of Rights covers everybody in the United States. You do not have to be a citizen to be under that rule of law," she said. "So it's really important for us. We have teachers on both sides of the aisle at the school. We all want our kids back."
In a Fox News interview late last week, Tom Homan said people rallying wouldn’t change anything, and that he doesn’t make decisions due to protesters.