A tiny local bakery was forced to close its doors after going viral for receiving death threats over selling cookies with an anti-ICE message.
The Sweet Boutique in East Meadow, Massachusetts, first hit local headlines on January 14, days after it published photos of cookies frosted with the message, “F**k ICE,” which drew thousands of comments online and saw angry users try to tank its ratings on review platforms.
The Sweet Boutique in East Meadow, Massachusetts, first hit local headlines on January 14, days after it published photos of cookies frosted with the message, “F**k ICE,” which drew thousands of comments online and saw angry users try to tank its ratings on review platforms.
Highlights
- A Massachusetts bakery closed temporarily after death threats over anti-ICE cookies that went viral online.
- The Sweet Boutique sold out of its anti-ICE cookies in 16 minutes, with customers lining up in snow to support the bakery.
- Democratic candidate Michael Lachenmeyer saw strong community backing for the bakery amid widespread fears over ICE raids.
- The controversy highlights a larger fight for free speech amid aggressive ICE raids targeting civilians and community spaces.
- Immigrant Defense Project’s director praised public opposition to ICE actions, condemning threats against those speaking out.
A bakery in Massachusetts faced threats for its popular anti-ICE cookies
“We’ve gotten a lot of death threats, hoping me and all my female employees get raped and my male employees get robbed, that they’re going to lock me in the building and burn the place down with me inside. It’s just been, it’s been a lot,” bakery owner Nikki Moran told Western Mass News.
The following day, the bakery was forced to announce that it would not be opening its doors the next day. But not because of the sickening taunts.
Image credits: KWTX News 10/X
“We sold out of absolutely every single thing we had today so we need a little extra time to restock ingredients, fold some boxes, and bulk up the counter so you can treat yourself this weekend!” The Sweet Boutique announced in a Facebook post after local community members overran it with orders and support.
That included the bakery reportedly selling out of a double batch of the cookies in 16 minutes, after people began lining up in the snow 30 minutes before opening time.
Image credits: Kali Churchill/Facebook
According to Michael Lachenmeyer, a Democrat running for Massachusetts state representative, the turnout from the public demonstrates the strength of feeling among many of his prospective constituents over ongoing ICE raids.
“I am very inspired by the reaction of the community, I think a lot of people feel very scared and depressed because of the situation, both in Massachusetts and nationally,” Lachenmeyer told BP Daily.
Lachenmeyer said he also received belligerent responses online after coming out in support of the bakery, but noted that they often came from elsewhere in the country.
“I’ve got people from Utah and from other places in the state outside my district saying, ‘I’ll never vote for you.’ It’s kind of the cost of taking a stand these days,” he said.
For Lachenmeyer, support for the bakery is part of a wider battle to protect the freedom of speech that is enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, but which has increasingly come under attack in the face of widespread public opposition to the ICE raids that have been a major feature of the second Trump administration.
Those raids have seen businesses, schools, and churches targeted by often unnamed and masked ICE agents, who have frequently detained U.S. citizens and employed aggressive tactics against detainees and protesters.
Masked ICE officers without name badges were recently deployed in Minnesota
The raids recently dominated international headlines after the shooting death of Renee Nicole Good in Minnesota at the hands of an ICE officer–which saw President Donald Trump and high-level members of his administration repeatedly labeling Good a “domestic terrorist” and defending the officer involved.
According to Yasmine Farhang, executive director of the Immigrant Defense Project, the long lines for the bakery “accurately reflect the growing public sentiment” against ongoing operations by ICE, and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).
Image credits: Yasmine Farhang/LinkedIn
“We are deeply appreciative to all who are exercising their constitutionally-protected rights to speak up about the ways ICE and CBP are making our communities less safe,” she told BP Daily.
“It is appalling that some are so offended by the First Amendment rights of others that they would threaten the lives of those who are bravely speaking up,” she said.
Image credits: FallRiverReport/X