Letter to the Editor:
Congressman Lawler is killing us on all fronts.
Lawler says he supports “humane” immigration enforcement, yet his record tells a far harsher story. Lawler voted for the Republicans’ so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill”. This was a deliberate effort to send a tidal wave of new money to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
Under this deficit raising bill, ICE’s annual budget exploded from roughly $10 billion to nearly $85 billion, making it one of the most heavily funded law enforcement agencies in the country. Those billions now fuel mass deportation operations like “Operation Metro Surge and Midway Blitz” which sound like violent movie titles. It’s sick! But it’s now reality TV where masked federal agents sweep through cities and suburbs, tearing apart families, frightening law-abiding immigrants, arresting reporters, and killing American citizens.
Meanwhile, that same bill gutted public health coverage for seniors, children, and low-income families, and it will leave 1.5 million New Yorkers uninsured. And the reduction in public health coverage results in increased premiums for nearly all other insurance policy holders like seniors with Medicare.
Lawler defends these priorities as “keeping our communities safe and reducing fraud”. But according to The Brennan Center for Justice, substantial research consistently shows that immigration is not linked to higher levels of crime but rather the opposite. And with cuts to the FBI and IRS there’s even less effort to investigate fraud.
Lawler must know that there is nothing safe or moral about stripping health coverage from New York State residents. Now Lawler has been proposing stopgap measures to help rural hospitals and ACA policy holders. First he breaks the ACA, then he acts like others broke it and he’s here to fix it.
This is cruelty by choice.
If Lawler truly wants to “rebuild trust and act in America’s common interest,” he can start by standing up for our healthcare. Lawler can stop feeding ICE’s endless appetite for Lawless power and money.
New Yorkers deserve a representative who invests in our health, not in fear.
Mark A. Lieberman, Yorktown, NY
