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Vigil condemns ICE deportation tactics Local leaders gather for an interfaith rally, protesting mass deportations By RENEE DeloRENZo rdelorenzo@liherald.com
Renee DeLorenzo/Herald
Elmont activist Mimi Pierre-Johnson with a photo of a well-known Haitian immigrant in the community, who had been missing for weeks without explanation, at a vigil at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church on July 1.
Elmont leaders continue to call for justice as immigrants are targeted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers and deported to countries marred by war and civil strife. Advocates say that most immigrants are not criminals and consistently follow the law, but are forced to endure what they describe as inhumane conditions at the hands of law enforcement. At an interfaith vigil called Our Huddled Masses Breathing Fear at Gloria Dei Evangelical Lutheran Church, in Huntington Station, on July 1, religious leaders representing the Lutheran, Presbyterian, Catholic and Jewish faiths called for an end to the forced deportations. Each speaker echoed the same sentiment — no human being is illegal. Among them was Mimi Pierre-Johnson, an Elmont activist and the founder of the Elmont Cultural Center, whose ongoing efforts to support the Haitian community have led her to take part ContinuED on PaGE 9
Pro-wrestlers visit children in Cohen Medical Center By RENEE DeloRENZo rdelorenzo@liherald.com
A local children’s hospital regularly supported by the Franklin Square library welcomed three special guests on June 26 — professional wrestlers Matt and Jef f Hardy, known as the Hardy Boyz, and Christian Michael Navarro, whose ring name is KC Navarro. The library’s teen services librarian, Daphne Levy, collects donations of games, puzzles, toiletries, phone chargers, art supplies and coloring books to help keep kids at Cohen Children’s Medical Center engaged and distracted from their challeng-
ing situations. The three wrestlers hosted a meet and greet at Cohen — the largest provider of pediatric health services in New York State that serves children from neighboring communities — with the same intention of brightening their day. The event was organized in partnership with UBS, the main sponsor of UBS Arena in Elmont, in anticipation of the 2025 Slammiversary. The payper-view event produced by Total Nonstop Wrestling will be hosted at the arena on July 20. Children in the 206-bed hospital range in age from newborns to 21-year-olds, all who receive
care from an assortment of specialists focused on pediatrics. Levy said she began hosting donation drives in support of Cohen because of her own experience with the hospital. She said it’s important to her that residents also see the value in supporting it. “We probably all know someone who’s been there,” Levy said. “I just think, you never know — God forbid one day you may need help.” Levy, 55, said Cohen has been a constant presence in her life ever since she was a kid. Her older sister was diagnosed with Type I Diabetes at the age of 8. Levy, who was 5 at the time, said
it was traumatic to watch her sister go through so much pain and suffering. Luckily, Cohen provided her sister with critical care. “I mean, they basically saved her life,” Levy said. “The kind of impact that has on you as a kid, your whole life changes.” At 15, Levy visited the main hospital campus adjacent to the
Cohen — the Long Island Jewish Medical Center, now LIJ Northwell — almost daily to care for her mother. Her mother received a kidney transplant after collapsing on the floor when Levy was in school and afterward underwent dialysis four times a week. After a second transplant at a ContinuED on PaGE 18