NYPD sergeants' union urges members to stand with ICE agents
NYPD sergeants' union urges members to stand with ICE agents
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With ICE raids imminent, churches provide some refuge 03:56
In New York, the NYPD Sergeants Benevolent Association urged its 13,000 active and retired members to stand "shoulder to shoulder" with ICE agents conducting arrests throughout the weekend, according to a post on the union's Twitter account.
"They are members of law enforcement just like you and we must never participate in the politics being applied upon our duty to uphold the law," union president Ed Mullins said in a memo circulated among its members on Friday.
Mullins encouraged members "to NOT leave any I.C.E. Agent abandoned if in need of assistance and to stand shoulder to shoulder with each agent so that they too can return home safely to their families."
He also asked members to contact the union should they "encounter any resistance" from the NYPD or the city in assisting agents in need of help.
Responding to the union's memo, the NYPD said in a statement Saturday that it "does not participate in civil immigration enforcement. Our Department has worked tirelessly to engage immigrant communities and include them in our policing process."
Democratic New York Mayor Bill de Blasio this week used the impending raids as an opportunity to amplify his calls to abolish ICE.
"This is a policy of fear and division -- and more proof that we need to abolish ICE," de Blasio said in a tweet Thursday. "Our city is stronger, safer and more prosperous than ever BECAUSE of our immigrant communities. We will do EVERYTHING we can to protect them."
https://edition.cnn.com/2019/07/13/u...tion-facility/
