By Ryan Schwach<\/p>\n
Two Queens representatives took heat this week for votes that appeared to support Immigration Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, which has come under fire after ICE agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota in the past month. <\/p>\n
Representatives Tom Suozzi and Grace Meng, both Democrats, were criticized on social media and by their constituents for previous votes regarding ICE.<\/p>\n
Last week, Suozzi, who represents a portion of Northern Queens as well as Long Island, split from most Democrats in the House of Representatives and voted for a bill to fund various federal agencies, including ICE. <\/p>\n
Suozzi was one of seven Democrats to split from the party to approve the appropriations. <\/p>\n
The moderate lawmaker quickly received criticism for the vote, which increased following the Jan. 24 killing of Veteran\u2019s Affairs nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis. <\/p>\n
Suozzi responded to the criticism this week. <\/p>\n
“I failed to view the DHS funding vote as a referendum on the illegal and immoral conduct of ICE in Minneapolis,\u201d he said in a statement. \u201cI hear the anger from my constituents, and I take responsibility for that. I have long been critical of ICE\u2019s unlawful behavior and I must do a better job demonstrating that.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe senseless and tragic murder of Alex Pretti underscores what happens when untrained federal agents operate without accountability,\u201d he added, calling on President Donald Trump to end \u201cICE\u2019s occupation of Minneapolis.\u201d <\/p>\n
In a letter sent by his office in response to an unnamed individual\u2019s criticism of his vote, Suozzi asked that his vote \u201cnot be mistaken for support of ICE\u2019s or this Administration\u2019s wrongful behavior.\u201d <\/p>\n
However, in the letter, Suozzi defended the vote, saying the bill did not technically increase DHS funding, and that voting to approve the appropriations is actually a step toward controlling the agency. <\/p>\n
\u201cICE could be worse without the passage of this bill,\u201d he wrote. \u201cI want to rein them in. I believe my vote was the best way to begin that process.\u201d \t\t<\/p>\n
He also said he cast his vote in part to stave off another potential government shutdown, which could come as soon as this weekend. <\/p>\n
The funding fight currently sits in the Senate, where Senate Democrats, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, want to strip any funding for DHS out of the spending bill. If an agreement is not reached, the government will shut down on Saturday. \t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cIf the government were to shut down over the DHS funding bill, it would empower ICE, not hold them back,\u201d Suozzi said in his letter. <\/p>\n
Democrats feel public opinion is on their side following the widespread condemnation of ICE\u2019s actions in Minneapolis.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur Constitution is being shredded and our rights are dissolving. Resist,\u201d Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another Queens rep, posted on X last week. \u201cSenate Dems should block ICE funding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Suozzi wasn\u2019t the only Queens official catching flack for an ICE-related vote this week. <\/p>\n
The criticism directed at Meng, who voted against the spending bill, stemmed from a vote on a June 2025 resolution that expressed \u201cgratitude to law enforcement officers, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, for protecting the homeland.\u201d<\/p>\n
That particular line was not the nature of the entire resolution, but one line in a measure condemning an antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado which killed one and injured several others. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy vote was about condemning an antisemitic terrorist attack and standing with the victims, their families and first responders,\u201d Meng said. \u201cThe resolution was focused on denouncing antisemitism and violence. That is why I supported it. We will continue to aggressively challenge ICE\u2019s reckless and unlawful actions and push for accountability wherever people are being endangered by agents of the federal government, no matter what they call themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n
Meng supported that resolution with 74 other House Democrats, including Suozzi. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Ryan Schwach Two Queens representatives took heat this week for votes that appeared to support Immigration Customs…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":114369,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":{"0":"post-114368","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-queens","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-nyc","11":"tag-queens","12":"tag-queens-headlines","13":"tag-queens-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114368","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114368"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114368\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114369"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114368"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114368"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114368"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}