Neighbors watched in shock Wednesday morning as a Honduran single father was snatched off a Dunmore street by masked U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents while riding his bike to work.
Witnesses contacted Dunmore Mayor Max Conway, who later met with federal agents who also took the man's school-age daughter into custody after the father allegedly missed an immigration hearing.
The man does not have a criminal history, according to Conway.
“As the mayor of a small town. I don’t have any control or authority over federal immigration actions, but I can speak to what I saw firsthand," Conway said in a statement posted to social media.
"The ICE agents I spoke with were professional, and answered my questions, and to their credit, they kept the family together," Conway said. "But this wasn’t some violent criminal. It was a working single father and his young daughter. I don’t feel any safer knowing they were taken from our community.”
An ICE spokesperson did not respond to emailed requests for comment on Wednesday and Thursday.
Conway did not identify the man, whom he said had lived in Dunmore for about six years with his daughter, who was a student at Dunmore Elementary Center.
"I keep thinking about that little girl in her Dunmore Bucks sweatshirt with her name on the back," Conway said. "She's part of this community."
Details from the arrest
The mayor and a witness confirmed other details for WVIA News about what they had seen and heard:
- Conway said neighbors reached out to him on Wednesday asking if he knew about the arrest, which they said took place at about 7:45 a.m. in the 1700 block of North Webster Avenue.
A photo submitted to WVIA by a witness, who asked not to be identified, showed a masked man getting into a plain blue SUV with police lights. The man is wearing a green tactical vest with a black "POLICE ICE" patch. A second photo shows the arrested man's bicycle lying on the sidewalk after he was taken into custody.
According to NPR, many federal law enforcement agents conducting immigration arrests have been concealing their faces under masks and gaiters and using unmarked vehicles.
- Conway said ICE did not notify the Dunmore Police Department prior to the arrest, but did meet with him and borough police after taking the man to the municipal building on South Blakely Street.
- Conway said he understands the father and daughter remain in federal custody.
"I believe in law and order, but I also believe in logical deportations, focusing on people who are truly dangerous, not families just trying to live their lives," Conway said. "I obviously don't make these laws, but seeing this up close makes it clear something isn't working the way it should."
