Local Mayor Recounts Friend Nabbed by ICE

If You are Nabbed by ICE, Know What to Do, Cathedral City Mayor Nancy Ross Pleads

CATHEDRAL CITY — It is customary for City Council members to recount the activities and meetings in which they have participated as an act of accountability and transparency to the residents they serve. On Wednesday Mayor Nancy Ross broke with custom. In a controlled but impassioned voice recounted how her friend had been nabbed by ICE agents on Ramon Road while in his car.

Her account was startling and chilling. The ICE Raids are real, and they are happening in our back yards.

At one emotional point, she declared, “This is not the America I stand for.”

Her friend was on Ramon Road when he was stopped. He rolled down his window and was told to get out of the car. He refused. The agents said if he did not get out, they would break his windows. The husband and father of two eventually opened the door. He was arrested, taken to the airport and put on a plane, with other alleged undocumented immigrants, to Tabasco, Mexico. 

Authorities confiscated their wallets and cell phones. The prisoners were later given an opportunity to search their wallets and retrieve any cash from them. Their phones were returned, but there was no cell service, Ross said.

All they had were the clothes on their backs.

“I’m lucky that my friends could call and tell us where he was and that he was safe, “Ross said. “I can only imagine what it’s like not to know where your husband and dad are.”

She called and met with U.S. Rep. Raul Ruiz, the Governor, Consulate, Senator and others seeking help.

Ross, in her first term as mayor, pleaded with residents to know their rights and protections under the law.

Watch and listen to her remarks here:

“I don’t believe in breaking the law,” Ross said. “I support following the laws, but I don’t support grab and steal. Those are our people, you guys. Your people, our people, my people. Where are our people?”

The City Council chambers were largely empty, but her remarks earned applause.