Crackhead Barney & Friends

Yesterday, an ICE agent opened fire in Marble Hill. They shot a member of our community in the neck while he was in his car. His five-year-old kid was in a child seat in the back of the car when ICE agents fired at least 7 rounds into it. This was in the middle of the afternoon, with children walking home from school and people heading home from work. Federal agents put every one of them in danger. When I was in Marble Hill last night I saw NYPD officers rapidly escalating violence. As I was trying to de-escalate, I was shoved to the ground by an officer. I witnessed unmarked law enforcement cars hitting protestors as NYPD officers pushed people out of its path. And instead of condemning ICE’s violence, Police Commissioner Tisch attempted to justify the shooting by reading off our neighbor’s past interactions with police. The NYPD spent more time protecting a militia that just shot someone than protecting New Yorkers. Last night, the NYPD and Commissioner Tisch violated the spirit, if not the letter, of our sanctuary city policies and fueled the Trump Administration’s attempt to demonize our communities. The NYPD’s Strategic Response Group must be disbanded as quickly as possible, and Commissioner Tisch must step down. In this district, there are mothers who are afraid to send their kids to school, workers who are afraid to show up for their shifts, and people who won’t call for help anymore because they can’t be sure who will come. That’s what it means to have a violent militia operating in your community. You don’t feel safe walking down your own street.  For decades, we’ve been told ICE can be fixed with more oversight, better training, or reform. But you can’t reform an agency whose purpose is to terrorize immigrant families. You can’t train cruelty out of a system built to enact cruelty. ICE must be abolished. This moment demands that everyone step up. Elected officials at every level need to stop hedging and say it plainly: Abolish ICE now. Our city must enforce every sanctuary protection we have and city officials must ensure this cannot happen again.