Tramonte: “Not one state or local tax dollar should go toward deporting hardworking Ohioans”
Cleveland, OH – In Columbus today, Earth First! and the American Indian Movement of Ohio as well as other leaders and community members disrupted “business as usual” at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. According to the news media, multiple people have been arrested. The groups wrote in a press release:
On a typical weekday, on the fourth floor of Columbus’ 47-story LeVeque Tower, ICE officers process undocumented Ohioans forced to check in at the agency. Immigrants, only accompanied by lawyers in some cases, wait for indeterminate times for their names to be called, knowing the check-in could escalate with no warning to a full-on deportation. Some sit with a single suitcase. This is all a person about to be deported is allowed to carry.
This morning, that routine came to a halt. People have filled the hallway, the front of the building, and the streets outside with calls to abolish ICE and reunite the families the agency has abused.”
To understand the level of opposition to ICE as it currently stands, you need to understand the context. While running for office, Trump had promised to deport “bad guys.” Instead, his agents are implementing a rubber stamp mass deportation policy that has absolutely nothing to do with public safety. Under President Trump, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have become nothing more than a political police force whose sole mission is to destroy American families. Fully 58% of Americans oppose the way Trump is handling immigration.
Even internally, components of ICE are seeking to distance themselves from the deportation arm. As Jeff Darcy recently explained at Cleveland.com: “The [Homeland Security Investigations] agents want to be in their own agency separated from the Trump Gestapo unit that separates families, detains them without due process, violates asylum laws and doesn’t keep accurate records of who they separated and where they are at.”
Today, America’s Voice published a list of 28 reasons why ICE is a rogue agency. Examples include:
- Increasing immigration arrests of non-criminals by 171%;
- Using military-style worksite raids to arrest peaceful workers;
- Using invasive surveillance tools and conducting warrantless arrests; and
- Retaliating against cities whose leadership they view as political opponents–and openly admitting it.
Said Lynn Tramonte, Director of America’s Voice Ohio:
Despite the rhetoric, ICE’s deportations are not focused on public safety threats, as the recent letter from Homeland Security Investigations leaders confirms. Under President Trump, Immigration and Customs Enforcement has become a political police force with a singular mission: to destroy American families with immigrant members, no matter the cost to children.
That is why Governor Kasich and the rest of our leaders in Ohio need to put an end to all collaborations between state and local law enforcement and ICE immediately. Not one state or local tax dollar should go toward deporting hardworking Ohioans.
