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On The Record: ICE Puts County on Edge
Port Chester teen's detainment creates concerns
Good morning. ☕ This is your Thursday, Feb. 26, Rye Record newsletter, curating some of the latest headlines across the city of Rye.
Today’s Weather Channel local forecast is cloudy with a high of 41 degrees ☁️ Check out the forecast for the rest of the week here.
A new reality. Rafael Antonio Morales’ mother was thrilled when, in January 2023, her son joined her in Port Chester, where she had lived for the previous 13 years. He enrolled at Port Chester High School and was set to graduate in June 2026. He worked as a busboy at the J House Greenwich, and loved playing soccer and going to school.
But on Oct. 27, he was picked up by Immigration Customs Enforcement at a nearby apartment building, and today he’s sitting in an ICE detention center in Louisiana.
“We never lived in fear,” said his mother, speaking to The Rye Record in Spanish. She asked that her name not be published for fear of retaliation. “We never thought something like this could happen.”
Many immigrants across the U.S., who never thought they would be targeted by deportation officials are coming to grips with the new reality of ICE raids. The result has been fear and a sense of gloom. Some residents of Port Chester and other Westchester County communities are hesitant to attend school, work, and community events.
ICE was not looking for Morales on the day he was taken along with about 12 others, his mother said. His deportation case has been pending since.
“ The policy now is just grab everyone and sort it out later,” said Morales’s lawyer, Lee Koch of Koch Law PLLC in Manhattan.
Rapidly changing ICE tactics have flummoxed even immigration lawyers.
“I’m made to feel like less of an expert than I used to feel,” said Sharyn Bertisch, a Rye resident and lawyer who is a partner at Feinbloom Bertisch LLP. “I find the landscape we’re in unprecedented.”
Click here to read Henry Bova’s full report.
Port Chester resident Rafael Antonio Morales was detained in October.
-Today’s newsletter is curated by Chris Marshall
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RYE RECORD STUDIOS 🎙
INSTAGRAM POST OF THE WEEK 📸
-Even in a blizzard-filled February, some people still dig the snow.
IN OTHER NEWS
SUPER SHOVELERS. With 15 inches of snowfall between Sunday and Monday, some Department of Public Works employees came to work at 6 a.m. Sunday, then alternated eight-hour shifts, with four-hour breaks in between. Take a look at the community’s efforts to dig out of the latest blizzard. -Alison Rodilosso
BOYS HOOPS IN SEMIS. With a 43-34 opening-round win Saturday against Nyack, and a 59-55 upset Wednesday of No. 4 Horace Greeley, the fifth-seeded Rye boys basketball team is headed to Westchester County Center for the section semifinals. -Steven Kearney
CANCELLATIONS ACCUMULATE. In addition to school cancellations Monday and Tuesday, and a delayed start Wednesday, Rye’s city council and school board meetings were postponed to March. -Record staff
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CITY
Emily Padilha Baldwin takes the oath of office as she joins the Rye City Council. Photo/Miranda Ferrante
A concerning Harrison developmental proposal first drew Emily Padilha Baldwin’s attention last year, as her efforts to bring awareness to the controversial plan caught the eye of the mayor and helped land her an interim seat on the Rye City Council.
Baldwin, 37, first learned of the proposed megaproject slated for 67 Grant Ave. in March 2025, what she called a “stone’s throw away across Beaver Swamp Brook” — a notorious flood-plagued area along the Rye-Harrison border — from her Glen Oaks neighborhood. The issue energized her, she said, and sparked deeper involvement with city and local officials.
Baldwin, a member of the city Traffic and Pedestrian Safety Committee, was announced by Nathan as the interim seatholder on Feb. 11, filling the unexpired term of his vacated council seat — while also adding a seventh member to the City Council.
-by Miranda Ferrante
SPORTS
Stella Maresca, Phoebe Greto, and Charlotte Storz play swarming defense. Photo/MQS Media
Rye’s girls basketball team is two wins away from a section title repeat. The third-seeded Garnets opened the postseason with a 68-16 win Saturday against Roosevelt, then beat No. 6 Suffern 60-42 in Wednesday’s quarterfinals.
Rye trailed the Mounties 26-25 at halftime before starting the third quarter on a 14-2 run. On Monday, the Garnets will play the winner of Thursday’s quarterfinal matchup between Lakeland and No. 2 Ossining, the team that beat Rye twice to end the regular season.
The Garnets’ core — senior Phoebe Greto, junior Frankie Chiaravalle, sophomore Stella Maresca, and freshman Charlotte Storz — have experience pulling off County Center upsets.
-by Steven Kearney
POLICE & FIRE
Local firefighters present a check for $1,500 to the Rye Senior Advocacy Committee.
A well-timed grant provided Rye seniors battery-operated emergency lanterns days before winter storms threatened to knock out many Westchester residents’ electricity.
Many seniors do not have generators or backup power, which can leave them vulnerable, isolated, and at risk, according to the Rye Senior Advocacy Committee.
Rye Professional Firefighters Local 2029 presented a $1,500 grant to the Rye Senior Advocacy Committee, which funded the donation of lanterns to seniors at Rye Manor and Vienna Housing.