‘They kidnapped a hard-working kid off our streets’: the gardener seized by ICE – and the New York town fighting back
Gerson Turcios was 17 when he fled violence in Honduras to build a new life in the US. Six years later, he was mowing lawns in his home town of Rhinebeck when immigration officers took him. Within hours, friends, neighbours and local celebrities sprang into action. Could they stop his deportation? Gerson Turcios didn’t recognise the men standing next to a couple of dark SUVs outside his house one…
In a small New York town, a young gardener named Gerson Turcios was taken away by immigration officers. Turcios, who had fled Honduras to start a new life in the US six years ago, was mowing lawns in his hometown of Rhinebeck when the incident occurred. Friends, neighbors, and even local celebrities quickly came together to fight for his release.
One July afternoon, Turcios didn't recognize the men in dark SUVs outside his house, assuming they were lost. However, the men asked him about Jimmy, a friend who had not lived with Turcios for some time. Turcios, whose accent gave him away, didn't respond. One of the men snapped a photo of him and soon, Turcios was handcuffed and on his way to an ICE processing center in Newburgh, followed by a detention center.
The town rallied to prevent his deportation, staging an intense effort to save their hard-working resident.
Written by urgent.news from The Guardian US's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
