As the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency continues to undertake operations in Ohio and elsewhere, protests against the agency have been escalating after an agent killed a woman during an ICE action in Minneapolis last week.
U.S. Sen. Jon Husted (R-OH) is praising ICE for the work agents are doing, and is warning Ohioans who are protesting to stay out of the way of agents when they are apprehending people.
"The president said he would conduct the largest deportation effort in the history of the country to fix the errors of the previous four years. That is an enormously complicated task," Husted said in a virtual press conference. "ICE agents are moms and dads. Our neighbors, they're part of law enforcement that are there to keep people safe. And by and large, they do a really good job, in accomplishing that."
He said protesters are "free to speak out against ICE operations. You are free to help any individual who is being detained. But do not interject yourself into the process of law enforcement.” But he added: "Do not try to intervene in an ICE operation because then you get tragedies like we saw in Minneapolis."
Husted said if someone is being detained illegally, they should go to the courts for a remedy.
Former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, who's running against Husted as is the presumptive Democratic nominee, did not comment on Husted’s statements.
A new Quinnipiac poll showed 57% of Americans nationally disapprove of ICE's actions. You can read the polling results and methodology here.
