When immigration agents arrived in the Nashville neighborhood of Hermitage seeking to detain a man and his 12-year-old son, the community formed a human chain with the hope of stopping their arrest. It worked.
The father and son were sitting a van when an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials blocked off their driveway.
With nowhere to go, the father and son remained inside the car, refusing to give themselves up.
It wasn't long before neighbours noticed what was unfolding, and stepped in to help.
The incident was broadcast live on Facebook. Source: Facebook
"We made sure they had water, they had food, we put gas back in the vehicle when they were getting low just to make sure they were OK," neighbour Felishadae Young told local broadcaster WTVF-TV.
Another resident, Stacey Farley, said: “When ICE does stuff like this, we’re gonna protect our neighbors".
"I would protect them again if it happened again," she said.
“We just wrapped our arms around and formed a chain and dared someone to break through it," said Farley, who lives three doors down from the family. "
Four hours passed, before the community decided to band together and form a human chain, with the incident captured on a Facebook live video.
The ICE officials eventually left.
The incident comes as the head of US Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced that only 35 people were taken into custody in a June operation targeting more than 2000 immigrants across the US.
