Community rallies behind parents detained by ICE outside children’s school in Baltimore

Parents, activists and elected officials gathered Friday evening to condemn the detention of two parents outside a Baltimore school, an incident that unfolded in front of children and has rattled the community.

Activists and those connected to Commodore John Rodgers Elementary/Middle School gathered at Patterson Park for the rally, which was to protest the detention of Jesus Acevedo Sanchez and his wife outside a temporary school building that students attend.

About 50 people braved an extreme heat warning, sharing watermelon cubes and mingling as they rallied. Some families brought children who attend the school and others brought children in strollers as they looped around the park, hoisting signs that read “Families Belong Together!” and “NO ICE!”

“It’s important to let our immigrant community know that there are people around to help them feel safe and protected,” said Heather Nolan, a rally organizer.

Nolan, who has three children at Commodore, said she was outraged that the arrest happened on school grounds as students were arriving.

In videos reviewed by The Banner, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents were seen wrestling Acevedo Sanchez to the ground on school property early Thursday morning as a child, watching from the car, screamed in distress.

Acevedo Sanchez’s attorney, Rachael Savage, said Thursday her client and his wife were on the way to drop their two children off at school “when their vehicle was hit in the rear and side by two ICE vehicles.”

ICE officials defended the detention Friday morning, claiming Acevedo Sanchez “violently resisted arrest” and had previously attempted to evade law enforcement in April. The agency said he has since been charged with resisting and impeding federal officers and destroying government property. His wife, who was in the car with Acevedo Sanchez, faces federal charges of assaulting a federal officer, officials said.

As parents, the couple were “very involved” and invested in their children’s educations, said Arisa Kimura, who taught one of the children at Wolfe Street Academy in Southeast Baltimore last year.

“Every parent-teacher conference, they were there,” Kimura said. “They said they do a lot at home with their girls to make sure they’re on grade level, and their children are always trying their best at school.”

Kimura said the girls’ mom was particularly involved and protective. When the teacher noted the then-first grader sometimes struggled to pay attention and could make small but careless mistakes, her mom asked what traits she should be on the lookout for at home to ensure her daughter didn’t fall behind.

The girls’ father, Kimura said, often came to pickup, where he was “very smiley” and open to chitchat.

Kimura said this is the third time one of her former students had their parents taken away.

This week’s incident is unique. It marks the first time since President Donald Trump returned to office that ICE agents detained individuals on school property in Baltimore; an ICE official told Maryland school superintendents this year that the office would not enter school buildings or do any staging on school grounds.

But agents have routinely crept closer to school buildings and campuses in the city. Last month, ICE vehicles were spotted outside Hampstead Hill Academy, an elementary-middle school in Canton.

“We were assured that something like this would not happen,” Nolan said. “We were told that our schools and the vicinity of our schools are a safe community.”

There are state laws to prevent ICE agents from coming onto school campuses, Maryland Senate President Bill Ferguson said. But before legal action can be taken, he said, officials are reviewing footage of the event.

“The footage is also good to have so that in the future, when we look back in time, there is accountability for law enforcement officers,” Ferguson said. “Nobody’s above the law.”

Ferguson was joined by another elected official, City Council member Mark Parker, who said he wasn’t surprised by the community rallying over the arrest just a day after it took place.

“The Commodore community is really, really strong,” Parker said. “Families and people of all backgrounds send their kids and are really active in engaging the school community.”

Parker, who represents a district that includes the building where the incident took place, said his priority was making sure Acevedo Sanchez and his family have all the available city, community and school resources possible.

“I’ve been really encouraged by the way that city agencies, nonprofits and community members in the school have rallied around the family and, in particular, making sure that the children have the support they need,” he said.

But beyond the family directly impacted, Parker said, he’s also worried about the community, which he said was “really hurting and traumatized.”

“Schools across Southeast Baltimore, all the schools that have large immigrant populations have been under siege for the last year and [a] half,” he said. “We have continued work to do to make sure that students and their families know that their schools are and will continue to be safe places for them.”

It’s not just immigrant families who are scared.

Teresa Groesch, who has two children attending Commodore, said she is struggling to explain the incident to her kids.

“It’s difficult to explain why somebody would do this,” she said. “They ask why, and I don’t have an answer for them.”

Banner reporter Liz Bowie contributed to this article.

About the Education Hub

This reporting is part of The Banner’s Education Hub, community-funded journalism that provides parents with resources they need to make decisions about how their children learn. Read more.