ICE presence in Bonita Springs' Rosemary Park raises community concerns

Reports of ICE and law enforcement activity near Rosemary Park are raising concerns in Bonita Springs. Neighbors say families in the area have been impacted, and a local organization says it is stepping in to offer support.

"Rosemary has had a lot of ICE presence and sheriff's presence since last year, since summer of last year, and we see it probably on a daily basis," said AJ Paal Kalyanmasih, co-founder of Voices of Bonita. "There's just patrols, especially in the downtown streets, and some of the immigrants are remaining sequestered in their homes."

As a result, Voices of Bonita is helping families connected to Rosemary Park by raising funds for financial support and assisting those trying to address their legal status.

"The first event that we did was helping immigrants have power of attorney or designate a power of attorney," said Kalyanmasih. "So if their children were left alone, they needed someone designated as a power of attorney to take care of them."

The group says it is assisting seven mothers and has helped 25 people so far, but admits there have been cases where they could not intervene.

"We had a situation where there was actually two parents that were being apprehended, and the mother started crying and begging the sheriff's department to please let her go," said Kalyanmasih. "They said that they would be back to arrest her, so she would be in it would be in her best interest to self-deport."

Rafael Arredondo, who has lived in Rosemary Park since 1986, shared his observations.

"You see women and children crying, right by my house a truck was pulled over and shortly after another, they had a lot of people there," said Arredondo.

Voices of Bonita and community members have also noticed an increase in "for rent" signs in the area, as well as vehicles and bicycles believed to have been left behind.