Tuesday, July 16, 2019




As ICE began to round up a few people for deportation Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez planned to have groups of people inform undocumented immigrants of their rights. 

One such group was called to meet at the Parkchester train station at 3 PM Sunday to distribute flyers advising everyone of what was required of ICE agents looking to pick up people for deportation, and what not to do if they felt they were being targeted. 


About thirty volunteers assembled outside the Parkchester subway station where a staffer placed them into groups of four or five to circulate through the Parkchester community handing out flyers on what to do, and what not to do if confronted by any ICE agents. 

One recognizable person in the group was political gadfly Michael Beltzer. He rode to the station by bicycle with his daughter. We spoke about politics for a while, then I moved on to ask others where they were from. I was told various locations such as Westchester County, and Long Island, and that people saw this event being posted on Facebook. 

The event was scheduled to end at 5:30 PM, but something seemed to be missing. When I spoke to the staffer she said the delivery of the flyers had not arrived. Time started to ebb away, and one by one the volunteers started to drift away. Mr. Beltzer left sometime after 4 PM, and I decided to stay a little longer to see what would happen. Once I could see this hastily called event was not going to happen, I left shortly after 4:30PM


Above - The Parkchester rally organizer checks to see where the flyers are to be given out, as the flyers were not on hand for the rally.
Below - As time went on people talked among themselves, but started to leave as time went by without having the flyers to give out.


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