A city congressional representative deployed Nazi imagery to denounce President Trump’s deportation policies Saturday.
“We’re standing in front of a building that has become the headquarters for the Gestapo of the United States of America,” Rep. Yvette Clarke (D-Brooklyn) told a crowd of about 50 at a rally in Manhattan’s Federal Plaza.
“We will not sit quietly as [Trump’s] administration attacks hardworking people who contribute positively to this country,” Clarke said.
Clarke appeared at a rally against the deportation of Ravi Ragbir, whose Jan. 10 detention led to the arrests of city council members Jumaane Williams and Ydanis Rodriguez.
Ragbir, 53, a native of Trinidad, was ordered to be deported in 2006 after serving a prison sentence for wire fraud and conspiracy.
Federal authorities permitted him to stay in the U.S. up to now, but the Trump administration wants to enforce the decade-old deportation order.
“He was taken away under brutal, horrible circumstances,” Ragbir’s wife, Amy Gottlieb, told the crowd.
The group called for congressional hearings on the matter and demanded a meeting with Kirstjen Nielsen, the secretary of the Department of Homeland Security.