But Rep. Claudia Tenney Has Nothing to Say
The story of ICE’s warrantless raid on an upstate New York dairy farm is drawing national attention and outrage, yet the local member of Congress, Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-NY-22), is awkwardly avoiding the issue.
The only related public commentary from Rep. Tenney has been a reaction from an office spokesperson, who issued this mealy-mouthed statement: “As always, Rep. Tenney’s first priority is to serve her constituents and ensure the federal government is working for them. As such, our office stands ready to be a resource and liaison to the federal government for constituents where appropriate. She will continue to pay close attention as this continues to unfold.”
As Charles Pierce takes note in his column, “ICE Is a Renegade National Police Force Operating Beyond the Law”:
There is a fully deputized, well-armed national police force operating in this country like we’ve never seen operate before. It cannot truly be called lawless because it is operating under the laws as executed by the national Executive, consented to by the national Legislature, and approved of, tacitly, by the people who elected the members of the former two branches. In another sense, however, in its contempt for the rights of citizens guaranteed by the Constitution, it is acting not against the law, but in a dark space beyond it, where the law is as weak and irrelevant as gravity is in outer space.
He goes on to point out that objections to actions like this, by government-sanctioned law enforcement, are part of what inspired our forefathers to create the United States of America in the first place:
This entire country started as a revolution against arbitrary and unwarranted searches and seizures. That’s what originally lit the fire in Boston that spread to the other colonies. Looked at in the long view of history, this country’s origin story is a Fourth Amendment story.
And still, Rep. Tenney has nothing to say.
Read Pierce’s column here.
