NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!
A swing-district congressman is firing back at officials in his Pennsylvania county who called a press conference Thursday to demand Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to be “evicted” from county buildings while questioning the “legitimacy” of federal law enforcement.
Rep. Ryan Mackenzie, R-Pa., told Fox News Digital that Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, officials were wrong to try to boot ICE from office space in the county — where he said federal immigration enforcement already have arrested numerous illegal immigrants convicted of theft and violent crimes, including indecent assault on a minor.
But, county controller Mark Pinsley and newly elected Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, executive Josh Siegel saw it differently, after headlining a press conference Thursday to demand ICE leave the area — with Siegel referring to the reported rent arrears as “blood money.”
The county is demanding immediate payment of “unpaid rent” to the amount of $115,000 and “termination of all negotiations with DHS,” the Department of Homeland Security, according to information provided by a representative for Pinsley.
SEN JOHN FETTERMAN CALLS FOR DEMOCRATS TO ‘RESIST’ ADVOCACY OF ‘EXTREME’ STANCES LIKE ABOLISHING ICE
Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, controller Mark Pinsley (D) (Monica Cabrea/Getty Images)
“Politics should never get in the way of allowing law enforcement to do its job. Instead of negotiating in good faith with (Homeland Security Investigations), Mr. Pinsley has chosen to attack an office that — I’m sure he knows — works to investigate human trafficking and other serious threats,” Mackenzie told Fox News Digital.
“This dispute isn’t about rent, it’s about far-left politics — something that was made clear when the County Executive announced that he didn’t want DHS’ ‘blood money’.”
The county’s seat, Allentown, Pennsylvania, is the third-largest in the state behind Philadelphia and Pittsburgh.
PITTSBURGH GOVERNMENT DEPARTMENT PROMOTES ‘TACTICAL’ CIVIL DISOBEDIENCE TRAINING FOR RESIDENTS
Mackenzie said the move by county officials interferes with important criminal investigative work and that they “certainly don’t want to see radical officials sabotage federal law enforcement as they work to arrest predators, traffickers, and fraudsters,” going on to refer to Siegel and Pinsley as “self-interested extremists.”
Pinsley’s office accused ICE of never fully executing a lease agreement for use of offices — and that DHS purportedly occupied county-owned space for 38 months while not being mentioned in its leasing agreement.
“Lehigh County should not be in business with an agency whose actions create fear instead of safety,” Pinsley said. “We can give them a taste of their own medicine. We are going to deport ICE.”
Pinsley said he asked county administrators to inform Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem to “pack your masks, tear gas and pepper balls and hit the road.”
LA COUNTY EYES ‘ICE-FREE ZONES’ ON GOVERNMENT PROPERTY DESPITE $1B IN FEDERAL FUNDING AT RISK
The city of Allentown — Pennsylvania’s third-largest and the seat of Lehigh County — is seen from the Tilghman Street Bridge. (Charles Creitz/Fox News)
“This is not simply a financial matter, it is a question of values, accountability, and whether county government should lend legitimacy or resources to an agency whose conduct has caused widespread fear among working families,” Pinsley added.
Siegel doubled-down on that assertion, according to WFMZ-69 News: “I think their presence is a threat to public safety and public trust, and so yes, we will be issuing an eviction notice,” Siegel told the outlet, giving ICE 30 days to vacate.
“The department’s failure to pay rent, combined with DHS’s national reputation for recklessness, chaos, and public disorder, warrants ending any relationship with the County. We will not accept their blood money,” Siegel added at the presser, according to City & State PA.
Lehigh County District Attorney Gavin Holihan told the outlet that DHS has been helpful locally in human trafficking investigations, and that he would pay the federal agency’s rent for them out of money the county collects through drug asset forfeiture in order to maintain a partnership.
CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP
“The only thing ICE has to do with this press conference today is to get headlines for the people holding that press conference,” said the prosecutor, an elected Republican who was however censured by the county GOP for endorsing Siegel’s 2025 run.
Pinsley told WFMZ that he is thankful for Holihan’s work, and that his partnership with the feds can continue so long as it is not in a county-owned building.
“They don’t need to be in our building, especially if they’re not paying,” he told the outlet.
Fox News Digital reached out to Lehigh County Government for further comment from Siegel, as well as the county’s Republicans and the Department of Homeland Security for comment.