The Town of Islip has doubled-down on its partnership with Immigration and Customs Enforcement — shutting down a motion by the lone Democratic board member to end the town’s contract with the feds.
Jorge Guadrón, the only Democrat on the Town’s five-person board, proposed a motion to terminate the deal that allows ICE agents to use Islip’s taxpayer-funded gun range as a training grounds — but no other board member seconded the motion, which killed the proposal before even getting to a vote.
“In the interest of safeguarding the mental integrity and well-being of the constituents of the town, the town board wishes to suspend the access to the rifle range for ICE,” Guadrón said in his motion.
But when Town Supervisor Angie Carpenter asked if any other legislators supported the proposal — it was crickets — shutting down Guadrón’s ask in the face of dozens of community members and activists who spoke for over two hours, mainly in support of the contract’s termination.
With the motion dead, ICE will get to keep training at the range until at least next June, when the contract is set to expire.
After the long silence, chaos erupted and shouting broke out from many in the crowd, ending with activist Joshua Chan having to be dragged out by two cops after an emotional outburst to the motion failing.
“Angie, you’re disgusting,” Chan screamed at the supervisor as he was being pulled away.
Other crowd members started chanting “shame,” while some approached the legislators and spoke their minds up close as they exited the Town Hall.
But the GOP majority walked out of the meeting seemingly unfazed by the screams and insults being thrown at them.
None of the members of the majority commented after the meeting, but later issued a joint statement.
“Those attempting to politicize this matter are unnecessarily causing more distrust of our law enforcement agencies, especially in communities that are already vulnerable and underreporting crimes,” Town of Islip officials wrote.
“The safety and protection of all of our residents, despite race, religion or Country of origin — remains our utmost concern.”
Guadrón defended his constituents’ reaction and told reporters that the “audience was beyond upset” with the “the lack of human empathy” shown by the board.
He added that he will continue speaking with fellow council members in hopes of ending the contract before next June and bringing the proposal back for a future vote.
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