(The Center Square) – Local and state officials in the Pittsburgh region continue speaking out against U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics as violent clashes across the nation spark outrage and protest.
On Tuesday, the Pittsburgh City Council voted unanimously to ask U.S. Sens. Dave McCormick, a Republican, and John Fetterman, a Democrat, to reconsider support for a $10 billion federal appropriation in support of ICE, accusing the agency of “lawless, cruel and unconstitutional” behavior.
Later, state Sen. Jay Costa, the chamber’s minority leader who represents a district in Pittsburgh, said he’d soon sponsor a resolution alongside 23 other Democrats that condemns ICE’s use of violent force and reaffirms constitutional protections for “everyone in the United States.”
“I am appalled and dismayed as I watch the ongoing degradation of Americans’ most basic civil rights – rights guaranteed to us by our Constitution and affirmed time and time again by our courts,” Costa said. “I am proud to add my name to this resolution and recommit to defending the hard-won Constitutional freedoms we cherish so dearly.”
Fifteen congressional Democratic veterans, including U.S. Reps. Chrissy Houlahan and Chris Deluzio, cosigned a letter Tuesday calling for ICE to “stand down” after the recent shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.
“In the military, when preventable deaths occur, leaders stand down operations to review/change policies, reassess missions, retrain personnel, and implement stronger safety protocols,” the representatives said. “The Department of Homeland Security must do no less. Our communities are less safe, and tensions have reached a boiling point.”
Fetterman, a Democratic from Braddock, admonished the deaths of Good and Pretti in a statement late Monday. But, he said, he won’t vote to shut down the government over funding for the Department of Homeland Security.
“I want a conversation on the DHS appropriations bill and support stripping it from the minibus,” he said. “It is unlikely that will happen and our country will suffer another shutdown.”
His vote on the budget resolution, like the ones before it, will diverge from fellow Senate Democrats, who are near unanimously pledging to oppose the last government funding package.
The vote, originally scheduled for Tuesday, has been moved to Thursday at the earliest due to the congressional conflict.
Senate Republicans need at least seven Democrats or independents to vote for the six-bill appropriations package to overcome the filibuster. But Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has said Democrats “will not provide the votes to proceed to the appropriations bill if the DHS funding bill is included.”
