Congresswoman Yvette Clarke demands ICE exit New York

Brooklyn Congresswoman Yvette Clarke, chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, has joined calls for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers to leave New York following a shooting involving an ICE officer in Upper Manhattan.

In a statement, Clarke, whose parents are Jamaican, accused ICE of being “nothing more than a vigilante weapon for white nationalists to tear away [at] the country’s multiracial democracy”.

“For nearly two long and painful years, Americans have watched in helpless horror as our neighbours continue to be stolen from their homes and shot in the street by agents of the Trump administration. [The] attempted murder of a New Yorker in front of his five-year-old son was far from the first disgraceful incident of its kind, but it must be the last. We demand that ICE leave our city immediately, and we are too disgusted to accept any delay,” Clarke said.

A federal immigration officer shot the Dominican man in the neck as he drove in a car with the five-year-old last Thursday afternoon, officials said. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said it was seeking to arrest the man in a “targeted enforcement operation”, but protesters and local officials decried it as an example of the dangers of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.

The 28-year-old man, whom city police identified as Oscar Belgal, survived and was treated at a hospital.

DHS did not describe exactly what led to the shooting, saying only that “during the incident, an ICE officer discharged his weapon” and that the man was injured.

NO SURPRISE

Clarke said that while what she called the Trump administration’s government-sanctioned abuses had shocked the nation’s conscience and sickened society, Americans could not claim to be surprised by what had befallen immigrant communities.

“I fought bitterly to prevent Donald Trump and his congressional lackeys from empowering ICE with hundreds of billions in taxpayer dollars, because I was certain that these vile, unconstitutional crimes were an inevitability under this president’s watch. In fact, these depravities are the only promise Donald Trump has kept, serving as more red meat for his MAGA followers. Every incident is just another dreadful reminder of the resources that could have been spent positioning our society towards a brighter future. Not pulling the darkest chapters of our past back to the present.

“ICE has proven itself nothing more than a vigilante weapon for the white nationalists to tear away at our multiracial democracy. It is a rogue agency, built by and for broken men. The only path forward is to rip that power away entirely, before ICE has any opportunity to further its relentless escalation of violence and despair in America. I therefore call upon Secretary Mullin to immediately remove ICE from sanctuary cities like New York City and all others his agents have invaded. The choice is his – however, the power is ours. Go out and vote!”

Markwayne Mullin is the US Secretary of Homeland Security, the department under which ICE operates.

Clarke’s call for ICE officers to leave New York is the latest from elected representatives and other city officials following the shooting in the Marble Hill section of Upper Manhattan.

The incident has also sparked demonstrations across parts of the city, with protesters calling for ICE officers to leave.

Lester Hinds