BY: J.S. James
Dear Editor:
My comments are in Bold, Italic and underlined.
Some thoughts on the proposed bill in the Rockland County legislature that would block County workers from cooperating with ICE except in cases of judicial warrants and criminal investigations:
Something that people need to realize and look at HONESTLY… There were no riots in Minnesota over ICE being there until AFTER Nick Shirley, an independent journalist exposed the Somali fraud and its path to the government of the state. This is being done to distract the public and federal government from dealing with that.
THE ROCKLAND BILL
I support the general purpose of the bill to limit County cooperation with what I regard as a lawless ICE agency that has wreaked havoc throughout the country. I have not gotten a copy of the bill,
The reason he has not seen a copy is because there is no written bill as was reported in a story on Rockland Post earlier today.
I don’t know the particulars, but from what I can tell, the bill authorizes cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security in cases involving (1) criminal investigations, and (2) judicial warrants.
The bill Rand is referring to is the 2018 Westchester Bill because there is NO Rockland bill to be considered.
That’s good. We should cooperate with DHS in serious criminal investigations and where they’ve convinced a judge to give them a warrant.
What the law doesn’t allow is for the county to facilitate the kind of appalling ICE operations that we’ve all seen in Minnesota:
Minnesota incidents are unfortunate but far from appalling. What IS appalling is the lack of respect for FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT and their interference with the LAWFUL actions of ICE. These incidents are still being investigated and recent videos show that Pretti was not the innocent bystander, the media has painted him as. He was attacking ICE agents, spitting on them and begging them to pepper spray him. He also on the day he was shot, interfered with ICE agents doing their job and got physical with them. The video of Good shows that her car was heading right for the ICE agent. Her intentions are NOT at issue here. Even if her intent was just to get away – which unfortunately we will never know, it is the officer’s reasonable belief that his life was in immediate danger of being take. This happened AFTER she was ordered to exit the vehicle and instead decided to try to escape. That in itself makes her motive suspicious.
• indiscriminate use of pepper spray to assault people who are just watching them, Pepper spray is only used when people refuse to obey orders to back off after numerous orders to do so.
• baseless arrests of protesters executing their First Amendment rights,
The only protesters who are arrested are the ones who are not obeying LAWFUL orders to back off and then become physically violent with the ICE agents, which is illegal.
• unlawful detentions of American citizens who are sent out of state and then released, The only American citizens being arrested are those who are interfering with ICE agents and found to be harboring illegal immigrants which is illegal) give examples
• Shooting tear gas into cars with children in them,
You are fast to accuse ICE of things but you do not give examples.
• Demanding people “show their papers” without any probable cause other than accented English,
When ICE confronts a person, they are acting on reasonable suspicion based on orders and pictures they were given.
• Detaining children outside their home to force the parents to come outside to be detained,
Again no examples given – if you are talking about that 5 years old boy…that narrative has been debunked… his father fled leaving him behind with the ICE. ICE tried to give the child to his mother, the people in the house refused to take him in. ICE officers took the child into a safe place until the father returned, and they were both deported) give an example other than this one
• And, of course, the fatal shootings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
We’ve seen it with our own eyes. We all saw the Good and Pretti videos, we know what happened there. But we’ve also seen so many other videos demonstrating the utter lack of discipline and professionalism in the way ICE agents engage with the public.
AGAIN NO examples given
I SUPPORT LAW ENFORCEMENT, BUT NOT ICE
I have said before — I support the police, and I support law enforcement. But what ICE has been doing is not law enforcement, it’s an abuse of authority by untrained and unskilled wannabe authoritarians. (prove there are
I’ve worked with a lot of police officers as Mayor. And I have engaged with police officers periodically in my life, as we all have. But I’ve never seen law enforcement act like the ICE agents we’ve seen on videos — insulting, taunting, nasty, threatening, reflexively escalating confrontation.
That’s not law enforcement, not in my experience. In every interaction I’ve ever had with a law enforcement officer, I’ve found them to be respectful, polite, and professional. This is because they are not being attacked by you or someone else where they have to defend their life against you like the ICE officers.
And when they’ve been in confrontational disruptions, I’ve seen them consistently try to de-escalate the conflict and defuse the tensions.
These are simple conflicts with one individual NOT conflicts with hundreds or thousands of people throwing things at them and threatening their lives and interfering with them doing their job.
When I say that ICE is doing isn’t “law enforcement,” that’s what I mean. That’s why I don’t think that county officials should facilitate ICE’s corrupted version of “law enforcement”, other than situations involving criminal action or judicial warrants. That doesn’t mean I oppose law enforcement, it means I oppose lawlessness.
ICE has forfeited its right to be treated like a responsible law enforcement agency.
They have not forfeited it. If people would stay out of their way and let them do their LEGAL job and treat them like human beings instead of dehumanizing them with names like Nazi and Gestapo there would be less of what you call irresponsible law enforcement.
It’s not.
Obama and other presidents used ICE to deport illegals and no one complained or called them name or attacked them while doing it.
WHERE WAS YOUR OUTRAGE THEN? How many peple has ICE killed in all of their current arrests, TWO… and those two may have been breaking the law with their interference with LEGAL ICE actions. That is still to be decided during thew investigation of the matters.
WE SHOULD ENFORCE IMMIGRATION LAW
Should the County cooperate with immigration officials? Absolutely. We always have. And we should again if DHS reasserts its obligations to respect constitutional rights, court orders, and immigration law.
DHS and ICE do respect Constitutional rights, they have court orders for the arrests, and they are ENFORCING immigration law.
Should we enforce our immigration laws? Absolutely. We need to:
1. Protect the Border.
We need to stop people from entering the country illegally. Sadly, President Biden was too permissive about this.
He was not simply too permissive about this like a parent allowing their child to do whatever they want to with no consequences he was actively inviting people to come here illegally and he and his administration LIED TO THE COUNTRY every time they told us that the border was closed and secure. This allowed murderers, rapists and other hardened criminals to enter the country and kill INNOCENT AMERICANS Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungaray and Rachel Morin. You talk about the deaths of people who put themselves in harm’s way while ICE is trying to get these people out of the country so they can’t kill or rape again, but you DON’T mention the innocent lives that were taken or destroyed by them because it doesn’t fit your narrative that ICE is bad.
although to be fair he and the Democrats (and many Republicans) had a very good bill that would have addressed a lot of these problems until Trump and his allies derailed it.
I have read the bill and it would have allowed up to 5000 people per day on a 7 day average BEFORE the administration had to stop them – that’s 1,825,000 per year FOREVER. Other parts seemed to be reasonable, but that one part destroys the rest of it. What the administration was looking to do was bring people in, give them everything free and make them reliant on the government for their livelihood and then turn them into democratic voters putting democrats in power IN PERPETUITY thus destroying the Constitutional Republic they claim to want to protect and turning it into a tyranny under THEIR leadership to cross the border illegally BEFORE border patrol could stop anyone.
Why did he stop it? So, he could run on the issue, which is just breathtakingly cynical – but typical.
He stopped it because of what I mentioned above. It had nothing to do with running on the issue. Even if it did, remember HE DIDN’T CREATE THE ISSUE BIDEN DID!!
2. Arrest and Deport Criminals.
The priority should be arresting and deporting criminals, especially violent criminals. That’s what President Trump promised before he sent Ice out with the Stephen Miller quotas that have incentivized agents to prioritize “quantity over quality,”
They are not prioritizing quantity over quality. They are doing both. They are getting out as many of the criminal element as they can. It’s not their fault that the Biden administration let all of these people in to the country. Now the Trump administration has to be the one to clean up the mess and throw out the trash. Their job would be A LOT EASIER IF LOCAL GOVERNMENTS IN STATES LIKE Minnesota, Illinois and others would hold illegals they have in prison and just hand them over to ICE. This would reduce the danger to everyone ESPECIALLY those who these government “leaders” are egging on to confront and interfere with ICE. And others like Chester, Westchester and Rockland legislatures would not try to pass legislation of noncooperation.
leading them to run dragnets through Home Depot and Target seizing people who have an accent, often people who have lived here for years, never committed any serious crimes, and are productive members of our society.
These companies should never have hired the illegals in the first place. If they hadn’t ICE would have no reason to go in there to get rid of them and those non-criminal illegals would not be in danger of being arrested in the fray. Unfortunately, sometimes people who have been here for years, but are still here illegally get swept up in these enforcement actions when ICE is going after the worst of the worst
3. Deport But Reform
When all that’s done, we can start deporting people who are here without proper documentation. That’s the law. We should enforce it. But we need to really look at those laws. We should try to find a way to protect people who came here as kids (the “Dreamers”), and people who are contributing to our society. Give them a path to legal status, maybe even citizenship if they earn it. Most people support this. I certainly do.
Most people DON’T support this. If that was the case, Harris would have won the presidency. Trump got 77 million votes on the promise to get ALL OF these people who came in under Biden OUT, especially the criminals.
People who get agitated about “following the rules” and “no open borders” are mostly those whose grandparents (like mine) came to this country when we had MUCH looser immigration restrictions, when basically all you had to do was show up at a crossing and not be sick.
At Ellis Island there were VERY STRICT rules for coming into the country – not only did you have to not be sick, but you also had to have a place to go and family to live with. It wasn’t just “Hi. You are not sick so you can get in…” You had to show that you were not going to be a burden on the country.
That’s how my grandfather Giuseppe Miserandino (where the “Rand” comes from) came here through Ellis Island in 1921, and I’d be betraying his memory and dishonoring him if I did not support our country’s tradition of welcoming immigrants.
We people on the right are not unwelcoming of LEGAL IMMIGRANTS. It’s the ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS they have a problem with. If someone breaks into your house, do they then have a right to live there, or would you call the police to get them out? This is what happened at the border. People ILLEGALLY broke into our country and now want to have the legal right to stay… it doesn’t work that way. How many years did it take for your grandfather to become and American citizen after he was admitted LEGALLY into the country? You are disrespecting him by protecting those who came in here ILLEGALLY and expect to automatically become citizens.
_____________
A MESSAGE TO BILL WEBER
My opponent for the State Senate, Republican Bill Weber, put out a press release yesterday asking me where I stand on this. I think I’ve made that clear: I support law enforcement, not lawlessness.
If you don’t support lawlessness, then you should not be supporting the illegals who are here. They are the lawless ones.
So here’s my question in return: Bill, if you support law enforcement, where are your statements condemning the Trump pardons of the January 6 rioters? You know, the convicted criminals who savagely beat police officers in their attack on our nation’s Capitol Building on January 6, 2021?
If what Trump did was so bad, where are your comments on all of the pardons of murderers, rapists and other violent criminals that Biden did?
Just like the Good and Pretti shootings, it’s all on video.
The videos on the Good and Pretti tragedies show THEY were attacking and interfering with officers. They were not innocent bystanders who were unlawfully killed, they were ACTIVE participants in breaking the law with that interference
That investigation is still ongoing. We saw the rioters attack police with hockey sticks and poles and barriers – even American flags! We saw them use pepper spray and bear spray. We saw them drag police officers to the ground and beat them with their own equipment.
You talk about officers being attacked and condemn Trump for pardoning them. Yes people should not attack officers in any, way shape or form. I agree with that. How many officers were killed on January 6? Did you comment or condemn Andrew Cuomo when he did the following:
- In August 2021, then New York Governor Andrew Cuomo granted clemency (commutation of sentence) to David Gilbert, a driver in the fatal 1981 Brink’s robbery, making him eligible for parole.
David Gilbert’s Case: Gilbert was serving 75 years-to-life for his role in the 1981 robbery in Rockland County, which resulted in the deaths of a guard and two police officers. - Release Details: Cuomo commuted his sentence, and the parole board later approved his release.
Let’s not be too hypocritical now…
And then Trump pardoned them.
And Bill Weber said nothing.
You can’t condemn one person for not saying anything on a topic, when you were not saying anything when YOUR president was doing the same thing
Trump pardoned people who beat police officers, and Weber said nothing.
So let me be clear.
I support law enforcement.
I do not support lawlessness.
But I do not support what ICE has been doing in Minnesota.
ICE has been working LEGALLY to arrest and deport people here ILLEGALLY Again, stop interfering with them and they will be able to get the job done and get out of Minnesota sooner.
And I do not support our County workers helping them do that in Rockland.
JR
In addition:
ICE IS LAW ENFORCEMENT – Counterpoint Editorial
ICE IS A FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY
Contrary to claims that ICE is “not law enforcement,” ICE is part of the Department of Homeland Security and legally empowered to investigate and enforce U.S. Immigration laws. It’s officers are trained federal agents with arrest authority, similar to other law enforcement agencies.
Labeling ICE as “lawless” because of isolated incidents or politically charged videos ignores the agency’s status as LAW ENFORCERS OF IMMIGRATION LAW
MISLEADING CLAIMS ABOUT MINNESOTA INCIDENTS
The editorial references Minnesota operations, including alleged “fatal shootings” of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. These claims are false.
Other accusations-pepper spray use on bystanders, shooting tear gas into cars with children-are either unverified or sensationalized.
ICE OPERATES WITH LIMITS
ICE has strict rules for cooperation with local agencies. That includes:
Respecting constitutional rights
Following judicial warrants
Prioritizing criminal threats and national security concerns
The Rockland County bill already allows cooperation in cases of judicial warrants and criminal investigation
IMMIGRATION LAW ENFORCEMENT IS NECESSARY
Law enforcement of immigration laws protects communities and national security. While humane enforce and due process are essential, refusing to cooperate with ICE entirely would hinder the enforcement of federal law including:
Apprehending violent criminals who are in the country illegally
Preventing human trafficking and fraud
Ensuring proper legal procedures for undocumented individuals Responsible enforcement is not lawlessness; it is following the law.
POLITICAL DOUBLE STANDARDS
The editorial also critiques pardons of January 6 rioters, suggesting hypocrisy. Comparing federal pardons or political decisions to local ICE enforcement is misleading. Public debate should focus on law enforcement actions not political theater
CONCLUSION
ICE is law enforcement. It is a federal agency with clear authority, rules, and oversight. While no agency is perfect, and mistakes do happen, the rhetoric of the left and the vitriol from them needs to be ended so their sheep will stop interfering with ICE and putting themselves in danger of getting hurt or killed due to that interference.
The Rockland County legislature should support responsible cooperation with ICE in criminal and judicial court orders.