Massapequa Lawmaker LiPetri Talks ICE Ride-Along On Fox Business

MASSAPEQUA, NY — Republican Assemblyman Mike LiPetri, who represents Massapequa and the state's 9th district, appeared on the Fox Business program Varney & Co. to discuss his recent ride-along with federal immigration authorities conducting raids earlier this month. In the interview, LiPetri focused on the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's use of "targeted enforcement" during his ride-along with the agency's officers.

"It was targeted enforcement of people here illegally who have committed crimes," LiPetri said. "Those who are affiliated with MS-13, who have committed murders in their native countries, those who are wanted by Interpol...those are the people we went after."

The man targeted in the first raid entered the country illegally after killing someone in his home country of El Salvador, LiPetri told host Stuart Varney. ICE agents swooped in and arrested the man in that raid, he said. The second raid targeted a “sex predator”, LiPetri said. It wasn’t immediately clear if he was arrested.

The interview came as the number of families, children, and other migrants entering the country from Mexico has surged to over 100,000 a month since March, The Associated Press reported, and days after President Donald Trump ordered nationwide raids to begin targeting people in the U.S illegally. Federal agencies have become overwhelmed in their abilities to detain migrants in sanitary conditions or more them quickly to better housing.

LiPetri told Patch the experience was "above and beyond" anything he expected, with its high level of "professionalism and strategy." Public reaction to LiPetri's interaction with ICE has been two-fold.

"You'll have people who will come and provide ad-hominid attacks against me, attacking my character of course, and then there are others who are standing up and actually speaking out about what we appreciate," he said.

LiPetri added that immigrants who entered the country lawfully from Italy, Ireland, El Salvador and more have thanked him for being their voice and reminding people there is a process where immigrants can lawfully come to the United States.

"We welcome all types of immigrants, we just ask that you do it the right way where you follow federal law coming to this country," Lipetri said.

The Massapequa lawmaker made it clear that ICE agents were pleased to have a politician join them.

"They were happy and surprised," he said. "Like A, I can't believe a politician is actually doing this, and B, they're happy because I told them to teach me, educate me, I asked a ton of questions."

Lipetri also defended the agency.

"You have a lot of people saying abolish ICE. Why? Why don't we learn what ICE is actually doing in the field on a day-to-day basis?" said LiPetri. "At the end of the day they're keeping our communities safe. Why would I ever oppose that?"

(1/2) #Politicians have attacked @ICEgov and @CBP agents with total disregard for the work that they do. So rather than talking, I wanted to see first hand what #ICE does by joining them in a ride along. ICE arrests and removes dangerous #criminals from our #communities... pic.twitter.com/QeZzZWMVmu
— Assemblyman Mike LiPetri (@TheMikeLiPetri) July 10, 2019