People can be vehemently opposed to the Trump Administration's immigration policies. That is not only acceptable—it is part of living in a democracy.
People can also be opposed to how immigration laws are enforced and question whether agents are following the law. That, too, is a legitimate debate.
But those positions require us to be honest about where laws come from, who enforces them, and what we actually know about the people involved.
Congress sets our immigration laws. Presidents don’t write them—they enforce them. That has been true under Republican administrations and Democratic ones alike. So, everyone needs to take a step back during the recent brouhaha that garnered regional attention involving Mahopac school board member Christopher Harrigan.
Harrigan served as a United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officer during the Biden Administration, just as he now does under President Trump. The idea that his role suddenly changed based on who occupies the White House is politically convenient, but factually thin.
Here’s what we actually know about Harrigan.
We know he is a civil servant.
We know he was elected to the Mahopac school board by a majority of voters in the 2024 election.
We know that when he ran for office, he was outspoken against the COVID school shutdowns.
We know he believes schools should stock what he considers to be age-appropriate materials in their libraries.
We know he has volunteered as a firefighter and EMT, coached youth sports, and served as a Cub Scout den leader.
What we do not know is just as important.
We do not know his philosophy of immigration enforcement.
We have no evidence that he has ever conducted himself unprofessionally or without compassion in his role as a civil servant.
We do not know how he voted in the last presidential election—or whether he supported Joe Biden or Donald Trump at all. Nor are we entitled to that information. I am old enough to remember when there were curtains to prevent prying eyes at the ballot box. That principle should still stand.
In other words, much of the outrage is not rooted in personal conduct, but in association. And that’s where this becomes dangerous.
I read the same national stories everyone else does. I see troubling videos involving ICE officers. I also see troubling footage of protesters who turn hostile or destructive, such as the illegal protest that took place in a Minnesota church. But national headlines do a poor job of reflecting reality at scale.
The media rarely highlights the thousands of ICE officers who approach their jobs with professionalism and compassion. It also does a poor job of highlighting the overwhelming majority of protesters who show up peacefully, speak their minds and go home without incident.
As with teachers, doctors, journalists, politicians and police officers, any large profession includes people who do their jobs well, and some who do not.
And we have seen no credible evidence—none—that Christopher Harrigan belongs in the latter category.
Removing or pressuring an elected school board member based solely on lawful employment sets a precedent we should think very carefully about. Once we cross that line, the question is no longer who we oppose, but who’s next.
That said, I do want to be clear about my own view on immigration, because pretending neutrality where none exists is dishonest.
I believe we must be a country of laws. A sovereign nation has borders. The number of legal immigrants we admit each year should absolutely be debated. But allowing widespread illegal immigration is neither sustainable nor fair, especially to those who follow the rules.
And if we are serious about humane enforcement, we are aiming at the wrong targets.
The most effective and most humane approach is not dramatic raids or public confrontations. It’s enforcing the law against employers who knowingly hire undocumented workers instead of American citizens or immigrants who hold valid green cards.
Every employer in this country is required to complete an I-9 form to verify work eligibility. I’ve been an employer for 16 years. Not once has a federal agency audited or checked my forms.
Not once.
If we enforced the law there, consistently and seriously, the incentives that drive illegal immigration would collapse far faster than through any show of force.
That’s where this debate belongs: in Congress, in policy rooms and in serious discussions about enforcement priorities.
Not in a school auditorium, aimed at a volunteer board member whose job is to oversee education, not adjudicate national immigration policy.
We don’t strengthen democracy by turning every local institution into a proxy battlefield for national politics. We weaken it.
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leahnelson
ICE Does Not Belong on School Boards
This latest attempt to normalize the presence of ICE agents in our civic institutions is not thoughtful. It is not balanced. And it is not honest.
It is political laundering.
The argument that “people are confusing enforcement with politics” is a convenient fiction, one that ignores reality, power, and harm.
Immigration enforcement is not a neutral profession.
It is not abstract.
It is not disconnected from human consequences.
And it is not morally weightless.
ICE is not the DMV.
ICE is not the Parks Department.
ICE is not sanitation, public works, or zoning.
ICE is a coercive federal enforcement agency whose function is detention, surveillance, removal, and family separation. Its daily operations involve deprivation of liberty, use of force, and state power over vulnerable communities. That reality does not disappear because someone also volunteers as a coach or EMT.
This is not about personality.
This is not about voting history.
This is not about whether someone is polite, friendly, or personable.
This is not about who someone voted for.
And it is not about “national politics intruding into local spaces.”
It is about role conflict and institutional trust.
A Board of Education is supposed to be a space of safety, trust, inclusion, and protection — especially for children.
You cannot simultaneously serve in an enforcement role that criminalizes, surveils, and detains members of immigrant communities and credibly claim to represent the educational well-being of children from those same communities.
Those roles are fundamentally incompatible.
Schools must be sanctuaries of safety, not extensions of enforcement culture.
And pretending otherwise is gaslighting.
The writer’s argument leans heavily on a dangerous idea:
that enforcement roles are morally neutral because they are “just following laws.”
History has never accepted that defense.
Laws have justified:
segregation
forced removals
internment camps
family separation
criminalization of poverty
mass incarceration
“Following the law” has never been the same as doing justice.
Democracy does not require us to pretend that all state power is benign.
And civic leadership absolutely requires higher ethical standards than mere legality.
This is not about demonizing individuals.
It is about boundaries.
It is about recognizing that some roles carry power that disqualifies someone from other roles — especially roles involving children, trust, and community safety.
We do not allow:
prison guards on school discipline committees
prosecutors on student rights boards
surveillance officials on privacy commissions
Not because they are bad people —
but because the roles themselves create structural harm and conflict of interest.
The same applies here.
Saying ICE agents do not belong on Boards of Education is not extremism.
It is not hysteria.
It is not “national politics.”
It is not “cancel culture”.
It is basic ethical governance.
The presence of federal immigration enforcement inside school governance chills speech, silences families, and erodes trust — whether or not abuse can be proven in a specific case.
And that alone disqualifies it.
The author asks for restraint, moderation, and neutrality — but what they are really asking for is normalization.
Normalization of enforcement culture.
Normalization of surveillance power.
Normalization of state coercion inside community institutions.
We reject that.
Schools are not neutral terrain.
Education is not apolitical.
And children’s safety is not an abstract policy debate.
Boards of Education should be led by people whose professional lives are not rooted in enforcement, detention, and removal.
That is not hatred.
That is not intolerance.
That is not extremism.
That is community self-respect.
We can debate immigration policy in Congress.
We can debate border law.
We can debate federal authority.
But we should not pretend that enforcement agencies belong inside institutions meant to nurture, protect, and educate children.
Not every job disqualifies someone from public service.
But some roles are simply incompatible with certain spaces.
ICE is one of them.
And no amount of rhetorical moderation changes that truth.
Friday, January 23 Report this
scatlizard
You'd be setting yourself up for a lawsuit if he is removed.
Friday, January 23 Report this
mizzemm
Dear Mahopac Board of Ed, Putnam County Executive Kevin Byrne, Legislator Crowley, and Local Press:
A few weeks ago, I witnessed an ERO Agent abducting a man in Brewster without a warrant. I watched as the man tried not to cry when we asked for his name and information so we could find his family and help them to locate him, because the agents were directing him not to speak to us and he was terrified. He was a man who had worked here for months and was walking to get breakfast when he was plucked off the street by your Board member, Christopher Harrigan, and his co-workers. It is imperative that we continue to publicize and speak out against these unlawful kidnappings by barely-trained thugs empowered by an increasingly authoritarian regime.
When I found out Harrigan is a Board of Ed member, I was unsurprised. When the Board, the Mahopac community and the Putnam County Executive came out to back him on January 22, I was even less surprised. This is, after all, a place where a confederate flag has flown in the center of the town at the marina for years without complaint. But despite the Board's decision to support Harrigan, we succeeded last night. The broader world now knows that an ICE Agent serves on your Board of Ed. That will matter eventually. And that County Legislator Erin Crowley also supports such blatant conflicts of interest, despite her repeated attempts to pander to Democrats and progressives over the course of her tenure and play both sides when it suits her. Kevin Byrne’s support was also entirely expected.
Think about how Black and Brown families must feel sending their kids to your school in the context of the world we live in right now, where even U.S. Citizens have been abducted and terrorized time and time again, especially in Minneapolis but also in NY and elsewhere, because they are now allowed to be targeted by the color of their skin. Yes, it was entirely unsurprising that Mahopac sees no problem with this, but millions of people around this country are fighting back against ICE's reign of terror and will see a problem with it. Ten years from now, when you will be embarrassed and perhaps even liable for your actions and blind support of this organization, we will have it all on video, and you won't be able to deny it.
So, I'm disgusted as usual, but also satisfied. Thank you for putting your hate on record.
Eileen McDermott
Friday, January 23 Report this
itgirl
I agree with Brett Freeman. It is ironic that after celebrating Martin Luther King Day, some people have decided to judge Christopher Harrigan, NOT by his character, but by his occupation. How sad that one is judged so quickly and without fairness.
This is a country of laws and laws require enforcement. It is a tough and dangerous job. Without law enforcement, you have ANARCHY.
Sunday, January 25 Report this