Rep. Dan Goldman and Brad Lander, 10th District primary foes, find common ground, attack Trump deportation policies
Congressman Dan Goldman and his Democratic primary opponent, Brad Lander, are speaking out about a new tactic by the Trump administration to speed up deportations.
Goldman and Lander are locked in an intense battle to win the June 23 primary in the 10th Congressional District, which includes Lower Manhattan and parts of Brooklyn, but on Monday they dialed down the attacks on each other and instead took President Trump's policies to task.
Battling "mega master" immigration hearings
They stood on opposite corners near the federal buildings in Lower Manhattan, where the feds began something known as "mega master" immigration hearings. Both said the hearings are geared to help the administration increase deportations.
Goldman used it as an opportunity to tout his work in fighting Mr. Trump's policies, including freeing 39 immigrants who were unlawfully detained, and he questioned the administration's stated goal of getting rid of the bad guys.
"Let us be very clear. They are not going after the worst of the worst. Five percent of the people they have detained have serious criminal convictions, and those people should be deported. But 95% don't, and 75% have no criminal record whatsoever," Goldman said.
Lander, the former city comptroller who was arrested last year while observing an immigration hearing, also slammed U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the administration.
"Donald Trump and Stephen Miller's evil mass deportation regime is constantly looking for new ways to mass remove our neighbors with or without the rule," Lander said. "So now they are trying on the first day of June a new tactic, these mega master calenderings designed to mass remove people, again, with or without the rule of law."
Goldman, Lander see ICE as common foe
Goldman and Lander, for one day anyway, seemed to sort of come together for a common cause.
"We have seen the policy, our political life being weaponized against the most vulnerable in our communities," Lander said.
"I'm focused on working with these folks and doing everything that we possibly can to abolish ICE, rein in this lawlessness, hold them accountable," Goldman added.