Joint Statement from the Orangetown and Clarkstown Democratic Committees on Orangetown Supervisor’s Threat to Check Immigration Status of Navy Veteran
***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***
February 2, 2026
Contact: press@clarkstowndemocrats.com
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As an attendee – who said he was a six-year U.S. Navy Veteran – was being removed from Congressman Mike Lawler’s February 1 town hall at Rockland Community College, video shows Orangetown Town Supervisor Teresa Kenny laughing and saying, “I hope they check his immigration status.”
The video, posted by Rockland Indivisible, clearly shows Kenny’s comment.
In today’s America, that is not a joke. It is a threat.
Immigration enforcement has become a tool of intimidation. ICE now operates with sweeping discretion, diminished oversight, and deadly consequences. People are detained without clear cause. Families and lawyers struggle to locate them. Deaths in custody are rising. Against that backdrop, a public official invoking immigration enforcement, flippantly and on camera, signals permission to use state power to silence and punish.
Public office comes with responsibilities. Among them is exercising care with language that carries real consequences. Deportation and detention are not abstractions, and they are not punchlines. Words matter, especially when they come from those in power.
Supervisor Kenny owes the public an immediate and unequivocal apology and retraction. She also owes a direct apology to the veteran who was removed from the town hall. She must make clear that our local government will not encourage immigration enforcement as retaliation for political speech or civic participation. We also call on Congressman Lawler to publicly condemn Kenny’s comment.
In Rockland County – and across the United States – people are entitled to speak, protest, and participate in public life without fear of being targeted by the state. That is a baseline democratic principle. Elected officials who undermine it should be held accountable.
The video has circulated widely online and raises serious questions about the conduct and political culture surrounding this town hall.
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