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New York Governor Andrew Cuomo threatened to sue the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) if it will not stop conducting illegal arrests in the state.

During a press conference on Thursday, Gov. Cuomo raised serious concerns about ICE’s operations across the state of New York. The governor noted that the increasing rate of ICE arrests and its tactics in conducting its operations are alarming.

According to Gov. Cuomo, they have serious concerns that the ICE operations “violate the Constitutional rights” of Americans and undocumented immigrants. The way the agency carries out its arrests “endangers public safety.”

The governor noted that in recent weeks, they’ve seen “harshness” in the behavior of ICE agents. It is becoming a major problem in farms across New York.

Farm owner said ICE agents showed no respect to the rule of law

In fact, John Collins, the owner of a dairy farm, which was raided by ICE, spoke during the press conference. Collins said ICE agents “aggressively” arrested his worker in front of his children. He added that “the federal authorities had no reason” to take the worker from the farm and his family.

Furthermore, Collins said he is “deeply concerned with the outrage and aggressive tactics used by ICE.” He said the officers “showed no respect” for him, his employees or the rule of law.

Moreover, Collins noted that ICE agents raided his farm without a warrant and did not identify themselves. When he tried to document the incident using his cellphone, they grabbed it, throw it to the side, and handcuffed him.  He described the ICE’s raid at his farm as “reckless and unnecessary.”

According to Collins, he joined Gov. Cuomo to speak out against ICE because he considers the raids “unjust.”

Gov. Cuomo said incident at the dairy farm is an example of an unconstitutional activity by ICE. He pointed out that the agency violated Collins’ constitutional rights when they entered his farm without a valid warrant and handcuffed him. The agency also endangered the public safety by not informing local and state law enforcement about its operation in the farm.

“We believe ICE is violating the law and endangering public safety in all of those instances. We’ll gonna put them on notice today. If they continue, the state will sue them. The state has the responsibility for upholding the constitutional rights of the people who live in New York. As governor, my job is to protect New Yorkers. I am going to do that and we will take action because we believe ICE is acting beyond the law,” said Gov. Cuomo.

Gov. Cuomo issued cease-and-desist letter to ICE

Yesterday, the governor sent a cease-and-desist letter to ICE Deputy Director Thomas Homan.