A pair of Long Island Democrats are caving to left-wing critics and rescinding their support for ICE funding in the wake of the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
Reps. Tom Suozzi and Laura Gillen both provided crucial votes to pass a $64 billion Homeland Security spending bill a day before the Jan. 24 shooting, then immediately started taking flak back home.
At a town hall last week, an angry protester presented Suozzi with an adult diaper for “when you pee yourself in front of Donald Trump.”
Long Island NAACP official Tracey Edwards said she’s “outraged” at New York delegation members who backed the bill.
“I am totally disappointed and outraged that the Long Island delegation funded — initially voted to fund — [the Department of Homeland Security] without addressing the very obvious concerns about ICE enforcement,” Edwards, who serves on the NAACP board of directors, told The Post.
Days after the spending vote, Suozzi reversed course to issue an extraordinary apology for failing to see it “as a referendum on the illegal and immoral conduct of ICE in Minneapolis.”
In the wake of Suozzi’s mea culpa, Gillen — considered one of the most vulnerable Democratic incumbents in the country — called a group of Long Island Latino activists to meet with her at her Garden City district office.
“It was a very uncomfortable meeting for her,” said Luis Mendez, a former Nassau County government official who runs Empowering Young Professionals of Long Island, and who was among a handful of local activists who attended.
“I ended up playing the role of mediator between those who wanted to just completely negate her and those who said, ‘Hey listen, you could be better than that,’ ” he said.
Gillen didn’t publicly apologize, but the day after Suozzi’s comments, she signed onto a resolution to impeach Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, saying it should happen “immediately.”
Suozzi and Gillen are “trying to play it both ways and no one’s fooled,” said a Democratic source.
After the spending deal blew up, Republicans had to rely on their own members to pass a two-week extension of Homeland Security funds at last year’s levels, with the measure succeeding by a margin of 217 to 214. The Democrats who had supported the previous version no longer backed it.
“If the vote was held today they would probably vote differently,” said Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-Manhattan/Bronx), said of the bill’s original Democratic backers and the “scary stuff” coming out of Minnesota.
Lefty “Squad” member Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) cast the flip as a win for outside pressure tactics.
“For those that I think changed their votes, it is an important signal that people’s everyday engagement and the feedback matters,” she told The Post.
Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) put it differently, saying New York Dems are “succumbing to the political winds of their base as opposed to actually working through this realistically.”
“Their base is in revolt,” Lawler said.
“I have always believed ICE must operate within the bounds of the law and any law enforcement agency must be held accountable if they abuse their power,” Gillen said in a statement, adding Noem must be impeached “to bring morality and order to DHS and ensure any reforms are followed.”
Suozzi did not respond to a request for additional comment.
They may be taking heat from some of their constituents, but there is national political support for some of the president’s immigration agenda.
A new Cygnal poll cited by the White House found 73% agreed that entering the US without permission is breaking the law, while 61% support deporting illegal aliens to their home countries.