Queens reps catch criticism for previous ICE votes

Queens Representatives Tom Suozzi and Grace Meng took flak online this week for previous statements and votes regarding ICE. AP Photos/J. Scott Applewhite, Mariam Zuhaib

By Ryan Schwach

Two Queens representatives took heat this week for votes that appeared to support Immigration Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, which has come under fire after ICE agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota in the past month.

Representatives Tom Suozzi and Grace Meng, both Democrats, were criticized on social media and by their constituents for previous votes regarding ICE.

Last week, Suozzi, who represents a portion of Northern Queens as well as Long Island, split from most Democrats in the House of Representatives and voted for a bill to fund various federal agencies, including ICE.

Suozzi was one of seven Democrats to split from the party to approve the appropriations.

The moderate lawmaker quickly received criticism for the vote, which increased following the Jan. 24 killing of Veteran’s Affairs nurse Alex Pretti in Minneapolis.

Suozzi responded to the criticism this week.

"I failed to view the DHS funding vote as a referendum on the illegal and immoral conduct of ICE in Minneapolis,” he said in a statement. “I hear the anger from my constituents, and I take responsibility for that. I have long been critical of ICE’s unlawful behavior and I must do a better job demonstrating that.”

“The senseless and tragic murder of Alex Pretti underscores what happens when untrained federal agents operate without accountability,” he added, calling on President Donald Trump to end “ICE’s occupation of Minneapolis.”

In a letter sent by his office in response to an unnamed individual’s criticism of his vote, Suozzi asked that his vote “not be mistaken for support of ICE’s or this Administration’s wrongful behavior.”

However, in the letter, Suozzi defended the vote, saying the bill did not technically increase DHS funding, and that voting to approve the appropriations is actually a step toward controlling the agency.

“ICE could be worse without the passage of this bill,” he wrote. “I want to rein them in. I believe my vote was the best way to begin that process.”

He also said he cast his vote in part to stave off another potential government shutdown, which could come as soon as this weekend.

The funding fight currently sits in the Senate, where Senate Democrats, including Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, want to strip any funding for DHS out of the spending bill. If an agreement is not reached, the government will shut down on Saturday.

“If the government were to shut down over the DHS funding bill, it would empower ICE, not hold them back,” Suozzi said in his letter.

Democrats feel public opinion is on their side following the widespread condemnation of ICE’s actions in Minneapolis.

“Our Constitution is being shredded and our rights are dissolving. Resist,” Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, another Queens rep, posted on X last week. “Senate Dems should block ICE funding.”

Suozzi wasn’t the only Queens official catching flack for an ICE-related vote this week.

The criticism directed at Meng, who voted against the spending bill, stemmed from a vote on a June 2025 resolution that expressed “gratitude to law enforcement officers, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, for protecting the homeland.”

That particular line was not the nature of the entire resolution, but one line in a measure condemning an antisemitic attack in Boulder, Colorado which killed one and injured several others.

“My vote was about condemning an antisemitic terrorist attack and standing with the victims, their families and first responders,” Meng said. “The resolution was focused on denouncing antisemitism and violence. That is why I supported it. We will continue to aggressively challenge ICE’s reckless and unlawful actions and push for accountability wherever people are being endangered by agents of the federal government, no matter what they call themselves.”

Meng supported that resolution with 74 other House Democrats, including Suozzi.