Welcome Center Director Winslow Bach was, at 2:13 p.m. Thursday,
January 8, 2026, seated behind his desk in the Helen Welcome Center's
back office, reviewing a list of municipal storm-drain grates due for
inspection. He was not expecting visitors. At 2:14 p.m., per the
subsequently compiled Helen PD incident report 2026-01-08-0341, the
Welcome Center's front door opened. A man in a dark-navy windbreaker
bearing the embroidered letters "ICE ERO" across the chest and back
entered the lobby. He walked to the information desk. He showed a
laminated badge. He said, to the morning attendant Marla Dowd, that
he was here "to execute a removal."
Ms. Dowd, per her own subsequent account to Helen PD, did not
initially understand the word "removal." She asked the officer to
clarify. The officer produced, from a manila folder under his left
arm, a single-page document. The document was captioned, in 16-point
bold capitals:
NOTICE OF REMOVAL — U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT
Respondent: GOOSE (MALE, ADULT, UNIDENTIFIED)
Last observed: 200 block of Bruckenstrasse, Helen, GA
Date of last observation: January 6, 2026
The officer, whom Helen PD's report identifies as Deportation Officer
Brent Lowenstein, GS-11, of ICE's Enforcement and Removal Operations
field office in El Centro, California, asked Ms. Dowd to bring the
goose to him.
Ms. Dowd, per her own account, said that the goose did not live at the
Welcome Center. The officer, per the same account, said: "The goose
was last observed in this building's direct vicinity. I am here to
effect the removal. Please produce the goose."
Mr. Bach
Ms. Dowd walked to the back office. She opened Mr. Bach's door. She
said, in full: "Winslow, there is an ICE officer here for the goose."
Mr. Bach, per his own subsequent account to this publication, said:
"The male or the female."
Ms. Dowd said: "Male."
Mr. Bach got up from his desk.
Mr. Bach emerged from the back office at 2:17 p.m. He approached the
information desk. He introduced himself. He examined the removal
order. He asked Deportation Officer Lowenstein to clarify the basis on
which the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, 8 U.S.C. § 1101 et
seq., permitted the removal of a native-to-Northeast-Georgia Canada
goose (Branta canadensis) from the Helen municipal right-of-way to a
civil-immigration detention facility.
Officer Lowenstein produced a second document, which he asserted was
"an internal ERO memo." The memo stated, per the Helen PD report
quoting Mr. Bach's recollection of it: "All male wild birds, as of
January 5, are subject to the same priority-removal schedule as human
respondents absent a substantiated LPR documentation claim."
Mr. Bach asked to keep the document. Officer Lowenstein declined.
Helen PD response
Mr. Bach, per his account, then declined to produce the goose. He also
declined to permit Officer Lowenstein to search the Welcome Center for
the goose. He indicated, politely, that he would be calling the Helen
Police Department to request a procedural consultation.
Officer Lowenstein, informed of this, did not protest. He stood,
approximately four feet from the information desk, in the lobby, for
approximately eleven minutes, during which time he re-read his removal
order twice.
Helen PD Chief Darius Pritchett and Officer Dennis Vega arrived at
2:31 p.m. Officer Vega remained in the lobby. Chief Pritchett conferred
with Officer Lowenstein privately in the Welcome Center's side
conference room for approximately 14 minutes. Neither officer has
disclosed the content of the conversation.
At 2:45 p.m. Officer Lowenstein departed the Welcome Center. He did not
take any goose with him. He did not take any documents. He did not
speak further to Mr. Bach or Ms. Dowd.
The goose
The male Canada goose most recently observed in the 200 block of
Bruckenstrasse — per the Helen Welcome Center's public pedestrian log,
which tracks goose sightings informally — is typically in the park
between the Welcome Center and the Chattahoochee pedestrian bridge
between the hours of 8 a.m. and approximately 11 a.m., weather
permitting. He was not on the premises at any point during Officer
Lowenstein's visit. He was, at 2:14 p.m., per a subsequently verified
account from Mr. Gunter Maier of Hofer's of Helen, in the side garden
of Hofer's, 42 feet west of Bruckenstrasse, 68 feet north of the
Welcome Center's front door.
The goose has not been observed at the Welcome Center at any point
between Thursday afternoon and this filing. Mr. Bach has taped to the
front door of the Welcome Center a sheet of paper reading, in 72-point
capitals, "THE GOOSE IS NOT HERE."
Officer Lowenstein's home office, ICE ERO El Centro, has not responded
to this publication's Friday-morning request for comment.
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