Congressman Paul Tonko wants ICE abolished. It comes as a negative sentiment toward the federal immigration crackdown is growing.
The 20th District Democrat has been a vocal opponent of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown. Tonko has signed onto an effort to impeach U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, and he’s voted against an appropriations funding bill for DHS.
In his office Thursday, Tonko went a step further, calling for the total abolition of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency that has operated since 2003.
The congressman’s outcry comes after two 37-year-olds — Renee Good and Alex Pretti — were shot and killed by federal immigration agents earlier this month.
Tonko compared Pretti’s death to the Civil Rights era treatment of protesters.
“This brutalization and the scenes of brutality that we have witnessed in Minnesota draw eerie parallels to the horrors of Bloody Sunday,” Tonko said.
Bloody Sunday refers to a 1965 protest during which hundreds of activists sought to march from Selma to Montgomery to advocate for voting rights.
The marchers, who were led by activists like the late John Lewis, were stopped by law enforcement on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, beaten with clubs and sprayed with tear gas, according to the National Museum of African American History and Culture.
“Having served with John and hearing his stories, you just can’t help but wonder what John Lewis would be thinking in this given moment. No matter which side of the political aisle you stand on, the horror of these events should be self-evident, the stark and devastating reality is that two people, who should be in the arms of their families today have instead been killed in the street,” Tonko said.
Zoe Oxley, a political science professor from Union College, said Tonko’s comparison is apt.
“I think he is spot on in making that connection,” Oxley said.
The professor says the recent violence committed by ICE agents seems “quite similar” to the violence that was inflicted on people involved in the Civil Rights movement.
“In both cases, the violence led to some shifts in public opinion and in one case the shift seems to be really, today, the public is turning more and more opposed to the activities of ICE and to the Trump immigration agenda more broadly, just as during the Civil Rights movement time the public did start to shift opinions regarding the goals of Civil Rights protestors including around voting rights after the Selma march,” Oxley said.
Opposition to ICE activity has been a focal point in the Capital Region in recent days. On Wednesday, state lawmakers announced they were signing onto a national statement decrying the actions of federal immigration enforcement entities like ICE and U.S. Border Patrol.
46th District State Sen. Pat Fahy said that the scope of ICE’s crackdown in the Capital Region is unknown, and leaders have been relying on the work from nonprofits like the New York State Immigration Coalition for information.
“Right now, too much of this is anecdotal and we are relying on a lot of advocacy groups to do the legal work and more,” Fahy said.
On Wednesday, Capital Region Sanctuary Coalition — a group that documents ICE activity — posted on social media that ICE had taken two adults and three children in Clifton Park.
And in December, four members of an Albany-based Afghan family were taken by ICE outside of mosque on Central Ave.
WAMC has reached out to the coalition for a request for comment.
Tonko could not give an exact measure of the level of ICE activity within the 20th District but says there has been an “upswing” in arrests.
He says ICE and Secretary Noem need to be held accountable.
“People have watched this performance, they have watched the unprofessional, irresponsible, carrying forth of a mission that has really tarnished an agency and have found them failing in their mission to address public safety,” Tonko said.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
