Mike Lawler, the ICE Man

Need help with ICE? If you belong to a significant voting bloc, Congressman Mike Lawler may take your call. If not, don’t count on him.

The recent surge in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests makes this an urgent issue for our community. Too often, law-abiding people are being detained in the streets, their families torn apart without due process. Congressman Lawler, a close ally of ICE, has intervened in a couple of cases—such as the release of Alan Junior Pierre and Yeonsoo Go—yet his choices raise troubling questions.

Although Yeonsoo Go is not a constituent of Lawler’s, she does belong to the Korean community which has a significant voting bloc in Rockland County and her mother is a minister. Alan Junior Pierre is Haitian, part of another significant voting bloc in Rockland County. Meanwhile, when Milton Guamarriga, a longtime Port Chester resident, father of three, steady worker for over two decades, and volunteer firefighter, was taken by ICE, Lawler was silent. The difference seems to come down not to fairness, but to vote counting.

Lawler has proven that he has the power to secure releases. But he does not care to fix a failed and cruel system: ICE’s indiscriminate detentions apparently fueled by racial profiling. According to the CATO Institute ICE is now arresting four times more noncriminals per week on the streets than people with convictions. And, according to the American Immigration Council fewer than 1% of ICE arrests included a judicial warrant.

America now has increasing numbers of masked officers sweep neighborhoods like Spring Valley in fear-driven raids that ensnare U.S. citizens, including children undergoing cancer treatment.

Let’s be clear: Congressman Lawler’s record does not inspire confidence. He voted yes on the 2023 Secure the Border Act, a bill that has been condemned for eroding due process, expanding DHS power, and deputizing local police in immigration enforcement. It also made it harder for immigrant youth to obtain legal protections. This is part of a broader pattern of undermining immigrant rights in service of political gain.

Lawler has a duty to demand transparency (none), legal oversight (none), and accountability from ICE (none). It is not enough to act when it serves him politically—he must stand for justice and due process for everyone.

Every person, regardless of ethnicity or political importance, deserves to be treated with dignity and fairness under the law. Until that happens, Congress—and representatives like Lawler—will continue to fail the people whom they are supposed to represent.

Sincerely,
Mark A. Lieberman
Yorktown, NY