Democratic Arlington County Board chair Matt de Ferranti and Democratic board member Takis Karantonis encouraged residents of the Northern Virginia county to call 911 when seeing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in their neighborhoods.
De Ferranti held a board meeting on Saturday which opened with a 30-second moment of silence for all the civilians who have been fatally shot by ICE, mentioning by name Renee Good who was fatally shot by an ICE agent after she hit an officer with her car. The board chair then encouraged citizens to call the 911 emergency lines so local officials would know when ICE is in Arlington County.
“To be clear, the law prohibits our public safety professionals and all of us from interfering with the enforcement of federal immigration law,” said de Ferranti. “That said our responsibility is not just to follow the law but to do everything possible within it to protect our neighbors and reduce harm. That means working together to call 911 when we see ICE in our community.”
“Calling 911 is important because it helps us know when ICE is in Arlington so we can better pursue Arlington County’s law enforcement mission, preventing violence in our community,” he added.
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Retired Arlington County Police Department officer Gregg Kurasz, who was there to comment his opposition to Virginia House Bill 1314 that law enforcement officials say will take qualified immunity away from officers and open them up to personal lawsuits, told de Ferranti it would be better to lead citizens to the non-emergency police line so the emergency line would not be flooded with calls.
Karantonis disagreed with Kurasz and in response to Kurasz’s comment Karantonis said he would always call 911 when seeing an ICE officer in his neighborhood.
“There is nothing in the nation that suggests to me that something very bad will happen when these people [ICE officers] show up, not only directly because of their actions but also for the collateral consequences,” said Karantonis. “We had people having heart attack[s] here because somebody three doors down the stairs, down stairs in a building has kicked in a door. So 911 is the best solution right now.”
De Ferranti and Karantonis did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
The recent two fatal shootings by immigration enforcement officers has caused a storm of Democrat politicians to speak out against ICE. Democratic Rep. Jason Crow of Colorado said Congress should consider using appropriation battles to leverage changes to be made in ICE policy.
Some Democrats have broken away from their party and come out in support of ICE. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania rejected calls by Democrats to defund or abolish ICE in a statement made on social media.
The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment on the board member’s statements.
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