Capital Region lawmakers and protesters are condemning Immigration and Customs Enforcement after one of its officers shot and killed a 37-year-old Minneapolis mother Wednesday. Protesters and officials demonstrated outside of the James T. Foley Courthouse in Albany Thursday.
73-year-old Betsy Van Deusan, a protester, said she was shocked after watching a video of the incident.
“The reason we are out here is because we want people to understand that there is a truth out there that we are willing to speak, but how do you make them listen,” Deusan said.
State Sen. Pat Fahy of the 46th District, Assemblywoman Gabriella Romero and Albany’s Chief City Auditor Sam Fein were among the elected officials who joined the 100-some protestors outside of courthouse.
They said Renee Good’s killing was unjustified, and they slammed the Trump administration for defending the ICE officer who was involved.
President Trump, in a social media post Wednesday, said Good was “a professional agitator” and that she “violently, willfully, and viciously ran over the ICE Officer.”
Fahy and Romero say that the event and subsequent federal response mean it’s essential that the New York State Legislature work to pass several bills to protect New Yorkers from ICE.
In addition, Fahy said the federal government’s claims about the incident are false.
“It’s misinformation, it’s wrong, it’s lies, it’s, you pick your adjective. The point is, watch the video yourself, I plead with young people all the time, there is nothing, nothing, normal about this, these are unprecedented times,” Fahy said.
Fahy and Romero have introduced several bills, including the Mandating End of Lawless Tactics Act, Reporting of Arrests, Detentions, Actions and Removals by Immigration Enforcement Act, NY Civil Rights Act, and NY For All Act.
Each of the acts aim to offer New Yorkers more protections when it comes to ICE activities and to bolster the state’s ability to hold the federal agency accountable.
Fahy says strong legislative action is needed before tragedy strikes in New York.
“We have reached an unthinkable point where we have masked, rogue, terribly trained, federal agents shooting now even U.S. citizens, let alone other residents, in our communities, and on our city and suburban streets,” Fahy said.
But, ICE has already been active in the Capital Region.
In just one recent example, in December, members of the Bakhtani family — immigrants who came to Albany from Afghanistan in 2021 — were detained by ICE and taken to the agency’s Buffalo Service Processing Center.
At last report, two of the family members — a father and adult son — were released, while the others remain detained in Buffalo.
At Thursday’s demonstration, Fein said stories like the Bakhtani’s is why people must demand accountability.
“We need to demand that the person responsible is held accountable, but also that our systems have accountability built into them, that they have due process, we need to demand justice,” Fein said.
