{"id":38699,"date":"2025-02-19T03:01:03","date_gmt":"2025-02-19T09:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=38699"},"modified":"2025-02-19T03:01:18","modified_gmt":"2025-02-19T09:01:18","slug":"republican-lawmaker-questions-citizenship-status-of-latino-county-official-at-public-meeting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/?p=38699","title":{"rendered":"Republican lawmaker questions citizenship status of Latino county official at public meeting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., questioned the citizenship status<\/a> of an elected county official in New York during a discussion about Immigration and Customs Enforcement<\/a> at a public meeting Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The remark by Lawler came after Jos\u00e9 Alvarado, the vice chair of Westchester County\u2019s Board of Legislators, asked the congressman what documentation people should be expected to produce if they are stopped by ICE.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m speaking to you, Mr. Lawler \u2014 somebody that looks like me, right, is approached by ICE. What would your immediate expectation would be for me to do? What should I carry on me to demonstrate that this immigrant is the vice chairman of this board?\u201d Alvarado, a Democrat<\/a>, asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawler said he should cooperate if that were to happen, before suggesting Alvarado might not be a citizen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, like every other person that is engaged by law enforcement, if you are asked for information, cooperate. I wouldn\u2019t expect you as a \u2014 I don\u2019t know. I assume you\u2019re a citizen. Maybe you\u2019re not. Maybe you are,\u201d Lawler said during the board’s weekly meeting<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some attendees laughed, while one person could be heard calling Lawler’s comments \u201cunbelievable,\u201d to which Lawler responded, \u201cWell, you\u2019re telling me about ICE approaching you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alvarado then told Lawler that he was in fact a citizen, and that he would not be able to serve in his elected position on the board if he weren’t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t realize that you didn\u2019t know that in order to be elected you have to be a citizen,” Alvarado said. “In order to vote you have to be a citizen.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A few minutes later, Lawler said his point was that Alvarado, like anyone who might be approached by ICE, should provide the documentation officers asked of them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBack to your previous comment. Yes, I understand, obviously, to vote you have to be a citizen. Yes, I understand to hold office you have to be a citizen. Your question was specific to what papers you should show as an immigrant. My point to you was, like everyone else who is a citizen, if you are encountered by law enforcement and they ask you for documentation, you provide it. That\u2019s it,\u201d Lawler said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ICE and President Donald Trump\u2019s border czar Tom Homan are making a push for an immigration crackdown in New York. Earlier this month, Attorney General Pam Bondi announced a Justice Department lawsuit against New York and several of its leaders over the state\u2019s immigration policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A spokesperson for Lawler defended the congressman\u2019s remarks in an email.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCongressman Lawler was simply making the point that people in this country, legally and obeying the law, have nothing to fear from ICE,\u201d Nate Soule said. \u201cThe reality is that Democrats can\u2019t win this argument on the merits, so all they have left is character assassination and lies. The Democrats\u2019 defense of sanctuary city, county, and state policies was roundly rejected in the last election \u2014 including by the Hispanic community, who overwhelmingly moved toward Republicans.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alvarado’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In 2001, Alvarado became Westchester County\u2019s first Latino legislator<\/a>. He has served on the Board of Legislators for eight non-consecutive terms and was elected to serve as vice chairman in January 2024, according to the board\u2019s website.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lawler has represented New York’s 17th Congressional District since 2023. He won re-election last year,\u2002<\/a>beating Democratic opponent Mondaire Jones by more than 6 percentage points<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nbcnews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., questioned the citizenship status of an elected county official in New York during a discussion about Immigration and Customs Enforcement at a public meeting Tuesday. The remark by Lawler came after Jos\u00e9 Alvarado, the vice chair of Westchester County\u2019s Board of Legislators, asked the congressman what documentation people should be expected to produce if they […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":38700,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5780],"tags":[7670,24969,1558,32398,32399],"class_list":["post-38699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-livehood","tag-citizenship","tag-discussions","tag-officials","tag-public-meetings","tag-republican-mps"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=38699"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38699\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38701,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38699\/revisions\/38701"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/38700"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=38699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=38699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ustower.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=38699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}