"Right now, everyone is in protective mode," said Diana Pachis, who leads the Walnut Hills Neighborhood Association.
MASSILLON As Diana Pachis prepared for her annual basketball camp in the Walnut Hills neighborhood early this week, she knew something was brewing.
L.C. Jones Park, where the camp is held, is usually full of playing kids. But not on Tuesday.
Instead, people were peeking out of the windows of their homes, and children were ushered off their porches and rushed inside.
Federal agents from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security Immigration and Customs Enforcement had descended on Fresh Mark at the edge of the neighborhood.
The agents staged at Franklin Elementary School, just inches from Pachis' home. There were helicopters hoovering above the neighborhood.
Immigration agents, armed with search warrants, raided Fresh Mark plants in Massillon, Canton and Salem.
According to ICE, 146 people "primarily from Guatemala" were arrested on immigration violations. The arrests were made at the Salem facility.
In the wake of Tuesday's raid, Pachis, who leads the Walnut Hills Neighborhood Association, has fielded multiple calls from concerned residents, activists and church and community leaders ready to provide food and personal care items or other help to those families impacted.
"Right now, everyone is in protective mode," she said. "They go to work and mind their own business. They play soccer on Sundays. The don't bother anybody. We've just welcomed them into our neighborhood."
Pachis said a safe haven is in the works but wouldn't say more.
HOLA Ohio
Veronica Dahlberg, founder and executive director of HOLA Ohio, said the arrests in Salem have devastated a community already marginalized and vulnerable.
"It's like dropping a bomb," she said. "It's a trauma and catastrophe that will continue to reverberate for months."
HOLA is a grassroots Latino group that focuses on advocacy, community organizing, leadership development and civic engagement that began about 20 years ago in Ashtabula and Lake counties. Over the years, the group has evolved and is now aiding Latinos throughout the state.
Dahlberg and her group will be in Salem Thursday to meet with those impacted by the raid. She has gotten hundreds of calls from pastors, families and others seeking help and advice.
"It will be a type of triage," she said. "We learned a lot with the Corso's raid. We feel like we will be able to provide some leadership and share what is going on and what they need to be doing."
Earlier this month, immigration officials arrested 114 workers suspected of being in the country illegally when they raided two locations of Corso's Flower and Garden Center - one in Sandusky and one in Castalia.
Dahlberg said her group continues to help those caught up in the Corso aftermath. Many still have not been able to communicate with their loved ones, she said.
Families are fearful and don't know what to do.
"They lost their jobs, they may be with no income in the foreseeable future, they will be plunged into poverty," Dahlberg said. "They might need medical attention but won't access it. They will be too afraid to drive or they lost their driver because they are detained. These are the things that are happening right now that we need to sort through."
HOLA has been working non-stop since the Corso raid, she said, trying to help families who are desperate.
"There is a despair that I can't really put into words," Dahlberg said. "I don't know who wins from this. It's not about the law. This is about the decimating the Latino community."
It is unclear where those detained in Tuesday's Fresh Mark raid are being held. Dahlberg said the Guatemalan and Mexican consulates have been denied access to the detainees until Thursday, she said.
They could be taken to an immigration detention center in Youngstown, she said.
"It's a terrible violation of civil and human rights of the Latino community," Dahlberg said. "Why do they pick on them? Because it is the easiest community to pick on. They are a humble, quiet community."
A child of immigrants who grew up in Canton, Dahlberg worries about the children, some who have been separated from their parents.
"It's going to be a very difficult and tragic situation," she said. "A lot of them are going to lose their parents. It's going to be a disaster."
Ohio legislators react
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Cleveland, said in a statement the children were his top concern and his office is looking into how it can help.
"Tearing families apart is not going to fix our broken immigration system," he said in a statement. "Instead, we need a bipartisan solution that recognizes we aren’t going to deport 13 million people here already, but we can secure our borders and create a pathway for people to earn citizenship if they follow the law, have a job and pay taxes."
Illegal immigrants who use false identities, and businesses that knowingly employ them, should be prosecuted, while giving those accused due process of the law, said U.S. Rep. Bob Gibbs, R-Lakeville, in a prepared statement.
"Using false documents to obtain employment is a crime regardless of citizenship," said Gibbs. "This (Fresh Mark raid) is another example of how broken our immigration system is. It is time to secure our borders, reform the visa program, stop chain migration, and implement a merit-based immigration policy."
U.S. Rep. Jim Renacci, R-Wadsworth, said through a spokesperson that America is founded on the rule of the law, and the law says it is illegal to enter the U.S. without following the proper process or by using a stolen or fraudulent identification.
Independent writers Samantha Ickes and Steven M. Grazier contributed to this report.
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