New York Democrats criticized Republican gubernatorial candidate Bruce Blakeman on Monday over his comments defending U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during a Sunday campaign rally.
Blakeman, the Nassau County executive, made the remarks at the Olde Post Road Golf Club in Rensselaer County, according to City & State's reporting on the final day of early voting.
“I haven’t heard of one atrocity in New York state that ICE has committed,” Blakeman said, according to the report.
He contrasted those concerns with accounts from families of people he said had been murdered by people in the country illegally.
The New York State Democratic Committee accused Blakeman of minimizing concerns about federal immigration enforcement in a Monday statement.
Party spokesperson Addison Dick pointed to reports about an immigration arrest involving a man's head striking a brick wall on Long Island and a death in ICE custody at a Nassau County jail.
Blakeman has defended immigration officers' work and criticized Gov. Kathy Hochul's immigration policies, a position also discussed in FL1's earlier coverage of his ICE comments.
The new exchange followed a separate WNYC interview in which New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani challenged Blakeman's immigration-enforcement position.
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