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A swing-district congressman is firing back at officials in his Pennsylvania county who called a press conference Thursday to demand Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be “evicted” from county buildings while questioning the “legitimacy” of federal law enforcement.
Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., told Fox News Digital that Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, officials were wrong to try to boot ICE from office space in the county — where he said federal immigration enforcement already have arrested numerous illegal immigrants convicted of theft and violent crimes, including indecent assault on a minor.
But, county controller Mark Pinsley and newly elected Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, executive Josh Siegel saw it differently, after headlining a press conference Thursday to demand ICE leave the area — with Siegel referring to the reported rent arrears as “blood money.”
The county is demanding immediate payment of “unpaid rent” to the amount of $115,000 and “termination of all negotiations with DHS,” the Department of Homeland Security, according to information provided by a representative for Pinsley.
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Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, controller Mark Pinsley (D) (Monica Cabrea/Getty Images)
“Politics should never get in the way of allowing law enforcement to do its job. Instead of negotiating in good faith with (Homeland Security Investigations), Mr. Pinsley has chosen to attack an office that — I’m sure he knows — works to investigate human trafficking and other serious threats,” Mackenzie told Fox News Digital.
“This dispute isn’t about rent, it’s about far-left politics — something that was made clear when the County Executive announced that he didn’t want DHS’ ‘blood money’.”
The county’s seat, Allentown, Pennsylvania, is the third-largest in the state behind Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
PITTSBURGH…
