By John Lynds
A checkpoint operated by the U.S. Border Patrol in Lincoln, N.H. resulted in the detention of two undocumented students from Excel Academy Charter School last week.
A week ago, Border Patrol officers set up a checkpoint on Interstate 93 in Lincoln, N.H. with assistance from the Woodstock Police Department. This operation led to the detention of 14 people, including two students enrolled at Excel Academy Charter School.
According to Swanton Sector Border Patrol Chief Patrol Agent John Pfeifer, “Checkpoints are just one of the tools we utilize to enforce the immigration and other federal laws of our nation,” “In addition to technology, manpower and intelligence, checkpoints help to deny access to major routes of egress away from the border and into our communities in the interior of the U.S.”
Excel’s Executive Director Owen Stearns confirmed that among 25 undocumented immigrants detained during the operation—the first major enforcement action of this kind in five years across New Hampshire—two were Excel students who were excelling academically. The detained individuals attended 7th and 11th grade classes at the school, which had recently begun its academic year as one of the state’s leading charter schools.
Stearns released a statement identifying the two detainees, whose identities remain undisclosed, as “exceptional students” who participated in athletics and served as class leaders.
The situation has alarmed administrators like Stearns, particularly given President Donald Trump’s restrictive immigration agenda and related executive orders. With approximately 80 percent of Excel’s student body comprising Latino students from Eastie and neighboring areas, Stearns noted that families are now on heightened alert following Trump’s executive order to expand Border Patrol checkpoint operations nationwide.
In his statement, Stearns expressed concern, noting “I think we sort of girding ourselves for this and are now very sad and distressed and angry that it happened,” “And also fearful that it may continue to happen and this may not be the last time.”
Organizations like the ACLU have challenged these checkpoints as violations of Fourth Amendment protections against unreasonable searches and seizures, according to civil liberties advocates.
ACLU-NH legal director Gilles Bissonnette stated in a written statement: “The Supreme Court has upheld the use of immigration checkpoints, but only insofar as the stops consist only of a brief and limited inquiry into residence status. Checkpoints cannot be primarily used for drug-search or general law enforcement efforts. In practice, however, Border Patrol agents often do not limit themselves to brief immigration inquiries and regularly conduct criminal investigations and illegal searches at checkpoints,”
Beyond the 25 undocumented immigrants detained, the operation also resulted in seizure of controlled substances from U.S. citizens: two pounds of marijuana along with smaller quantities of cocaine, mushrooms and hash oil. The checkpoint generated 32 additional arrests outside those 25 detentions.
The detention of these two Excel students occurred one week before Trump terminated the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program, furthering the White House’s aggressive approach toward immigrant populations.
Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights and Economic Justice Ivan Espinoza-Madrigal, Esq. stated: “Repealing DACA subjects over 800,000 young people to deportation. Beneficiaries of DACA, known as Dreamers, came to the United States as children and grew up here becoming integral members of our society. Deporting Dreamers would send them back to countries to which they have little or no connection and subject them in many cases to intense violence or poverty present in some of those countries. DACA’s repeal comes on the heels of pardoning ex-sheriff Joe Arpaio.”