NJ Democrats Want ICE Spokesman Fired For Ties To Islamophobes

EAST BRUNSWICK, NJ — Six New Jersey members of Congress, all Democrats, wrote a letter to the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, demanding that New Jersey ICE media spokesman Emilio Karim Dabul be fired after he was connected to groups labeled by some as Islamophobic.

Last Wednesday, Reps. Bill Pascrell, Jr. (NJ-09), Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06), Donald Payne, Jr. (NJ-10), Albio Sires (NJ-08), Donald Norcross (NJ-01), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ-12) wrote a letter to ICE Acting Director Ronald Vitiello, demanding Dabul’s removal. That's Dabul pictured above.

Dabul currently answers reporters' questions and writes press releases for ICE, working out of their Newark field office. But at one time he worked as an editor for ACT for America, the Newark Star Ledger first reported in this Aug. 5 editorial, which strongly criticized ICE and Dabul for his past.

ACT is an organization founded by Brigitte Gabriel. Gabriel is a Lebanese Christian who became a U.S. citizen and in 2007, she made the following statements: Practicing Muslims "cannot be loyal citizens of the United States," that "every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim," and, four years later, that "[t]ens of thousands of Islamic militants now reside in America, operating in sleeper cells, attending our colleges and universities."

The Southern Poverty Law Center has classified ACT For America as a hate group.

According to the Star Ledger, Dabul has written freelance pieces New York Post and the Daily News, including "One Arab's Apology" for 9-11 and an op-ed titled, "I am with Israel: One Arab American's salute." Dabul's comments are not of the same tenor as Gabriel's: He has said he doesn't want all Muslims to be profiled, and not all terrorists in the U.S. are Muslim.

You can hear him speak below, where he defends Stephen Emerson, a journalist who has made controversial comments about Islam and Muslims.

"Stephen Emerson makes one misstatement and he's basically pilloried and given an electronic lynching?," Dabul said in the video below.

The six New Jersey Democratic members of Congress wrote last week:

“We write to express our deep concerns regarding the employment of Emilio Karim Dabul as the spokesperson for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in New Jersey. Prior to his appointment, Mr. Dabul edited and wrote for anti-Muslim hate groups," they said. “Given Mr. Dabul’s record, we call for his immediate dismissal from ICE and consider his continued employment as tacit acceptance of his bigoted beliefs.”

ICE and Dabul did not respond to Patch when asked today about the Democrats' calls for him to be fired. But in a statement given to the Star Ledger when they first wrote their editorial, ICE spokesperson Liz Johnson stood by Dabul, saying:

“As ICE employees and their families face ongoing threats to their safety, it’s unacceptable that the Star-Ledger editorial board has now resorted to politically-motivated personal attacks against an agency public servant."

ICE also referenced this Politico article that questioned the legitimacy of the Southern Poverty Law Center.