Immigration detainments have been a big part of President Donald Trump’s first 100 days.

But when it comes to children, the actions against them can draw powerful responses.

What You Need To Know

  • Back on March 27, ICE and Border Patrol issued a search warrant for an employee of a farm in Sackets Harbor, only to find and detain several other illegal immigrants, including a family with three children.

  • That family, was doing everything it needed to become legal citizens, including attending court hearings, but were still taken to a detention center in Texas.

  • A rally a week later, gave a thousand people a chance to be heard and two days later, the family was released back home. Border czar Tom Homan says the rally had nothing to do with that decision and it was based on the needs of the investigation into the arrest warrant.

“I think the case agents, the men and women of (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) and Border Protection acted appropriately, taking care of, making sure that family was safe,” border czar Tom Homan said.

Homan was referencing an incident from earlier this spring in Sackets Harbor.

On March 27, federal agents from ICE and Border Patrol issued a search warrant on a farm in Seackets Harbor, a community where Homan owns a house.

While taking one man — an undocumented individual — into custody for allegedly possessing child pornography, agents also found numerous other individuals lacking legal status, including a family — a mother and her three school age children.

That family, on track to become legal, including attending court hearings, was taken to a detention center in Texas. Homan said it was so they could be properly interviewed.

“They were talked to by medical professionals to make sure they weren't victims, to make sure they were OK. We also did investigation, make sure that their images were not in any of the evidence we found. So, I wanted to, we protected that,” Homan said.

But it's an explanation that some were not buying and still aren't.

When word that this family, these three children being taken from their home, their school — while working with their mother to earn a legal status the right way — started spreading around town, people were up in arms.

Not many understood why they would need to be taken to that detention center so far away to be interviewed. Instead, they believed the administration was also targeting children for deportation.

“Because they know that, you know, what happened here could happen anywhere,” Jefferson County Democratic Party Chairman Corey Decillis said.

Decillis helped organize a rally on April 5 that saw more than 1,000 people show up. The group marched right past the very house owned by Tom Homan.

“When there’s an attack on one, there’s an attack on all and everybody. You know, everybody bands together to fix a problem,” Decillis said.

Just two days later, the decision was made to have that family returned home.

While Decillis believes the rally played a big role, Homan says it made no impact whatsoever.

“I don't know how it couldn't, right? I mean, you amass that many people for the same purpose,” Decillis said.

Homan told Spectrum News 1 that people can hate him, they can blame him, but they will never tell him how to do his job.

After returning home, the school district said the family did not want talk about what happened, and it would also no longer be talking, as it had become too decisive of an issue.

A few days after the detainments, one of the farm owners asked Spectrum News 1 not to come on their property.