{I can't process single-letter pseudonyms.}
My coworker’s husband. We’ll call him Mike. Mike and his wife own a construction company in the Northeast GA area. Mike is a US citizen, a US Army Commanding Officer, and a stellar guy. He was at a work site today when ICE appeared, aggressively looking for one of his employees, John. John is a lawful resident with every legal right to be at his job and working hard. Another employee, an elderly white man & Vietnam veteran named Bob, began to confront the ICE agents and called Mike over for help. The ICE agents began to manhandle John and Bob stepped in to protect him. The agents shoved Bob to the ground, which is when Mike shoved the agent back and a scuffle ensued. My coworker, Mike’s wife, received a call from Bob and immediately drove 45 minutes to the work site.
1 and a half hours passed and my coworker called me to let me know that Mike and Bob were being arrested by local police, not ICE, for “obstructing justice” and “assault”. At the time, they still had them both in the back of police cruisers because they were not sure which county jurisdiction they were in. I’ve just recently found out what county they have been taken to. Their immigration lawyers had arrived by then and John was not taken into any custody because again, he is a lawful resident. I am giving my coworker space to process and maneuver next steps, but they need this spread far and wide.
This shit is fucking absurd and vile. ICE agents are allowed to abuse and assault high-ranking military personnel and veterans for wrongly assuming any brown employee is immediately illegal. Luckily this shit will not go unnoticed as Mike and his wife are well equipped with legal representation and community backing. But my point still stands. ICE is a fucking cancer to this country and they and the disgusting man that gave these orders cannot go unpunished.
Finally, I am still waiting for permission from the family to share pertinent details. If anyone has contact information for Georgia/local news outlets, I would like to relay that info to the family when things aren’t as raw. Please DM me if direct contacts are available. Love you all