Representative John Mannion is demanding change in the federal government’s approach to immigration enforcement — and declaring those reforms are a necessary condition for him to support a crucial funding bill for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. That department shut down after Repu blicans failed to win over Democratic support for their continuing funding bill, though the shutdown should have little impact on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations. A Democrat representing New York’s 22 Congressional district, Mannion campaigned on reforming what he called at the time a “broken immigration system.”  Despite issuing his first Congressional vote in support of a bill that colleagues, experts, and party leaders warned would expand ICE’s powers and funding, Mannion has become a consistent and prominent critic of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation operations.  That criticism culminated last month, when Mannion called for the resignations of DHS Director Kristi Noem and Stephen Miller, declared ICE the president’s “personal paramilitary unit” and warned that a storm of “state terror” had arrived in America. He issued those statements in the wake of immigration enforcement officials killing two people in Minneapolis, Renee Good and Alex Pretti, sparking nationwide backlash.  In an interview with Central Current, Mannion explained his votes on immigration bills throughout last year, and described the changes he wants to see before agreeing to continue funding DHS. “The mask needs to come off, the funding needs to go down, the patrols need to stop,” Mannion said. “People want immigration reform and they want immigration enforcement, but they do not want what they’re seeing in the streets of the United States of America right now.” While Mannion maintains his views on the country’s immigration system have not changed since he started his campaign in NY-22 — he has consistently said he wants to reform a “broken system” — his votes appear to have evolved in the past year.  Mannion shifted from initial support to purported bipartisan solutions, to skepticism and criticism of the Republicans’ approach toward immigration enforcement.  His first vote in Congress was in support of the Laken Riley Act, whose title invokes a 22-year-old American citizen murdered by an undocumented man from Venezuela.  The bill’s supporters argued the Laken Riley Act was designed to help federal immigration agencies go after “the worst of the worst.”  Congressional Democratic leaders and immigration experts, though, warned the legislation was creating the legal framework for Trump to make good on his mass deportation pledge, while erasing due process and potentially sweeping up legal residents in the federal dragnet. Mannion and 45 other Democrats in the House of Representatives broke with party leaders to pass the bill, which requires the detention of any undocumented person accused of a crime.  Washington Senator Patty Murray spoke at length on the Senate floor on how she believed the legislation would exacerbate an already broken immigration system, erode civil liberties, and punish law-abiding immigrants, including children. Murray argued that these marching orders would cost tens of billions of dollars to outfit ICE with the resources for such an expansive operation. “As written, this bill appears so broad that a child could be locked up and put on a plane without their parents,” Murray said. “With such sweeping language, I am deeply concerned the Trump administration could abuse this law to deport Dreamers, or our farmworkers, or other essential workers who, again, may never be convicted of a crime.” The hypothetical scenarios Murray outlined bear similarities to actual events of the last year throughout Central New York.  The unprecedented changes to immigration enforcement Murray described undergirded the Laken Riley Act, but the legislation’s main premise — to detain criminal undocumented immigrants — was already ICE’s mission. Mannion conceded that the stated goal of the Laken Riley Act was “very similar” to existing law, but said he voted for the bill believing it was in line with the wishes of his Central New York and Mohawk Valley constituents.  “Whether that law is in place or not, and whether I voted for it or not, they’re violating those federal laws, and they’re violating the Constitution,” Mannion said. While Mannion has pushed back against funding for ICE, including in Trump’s One Beautiful Bill Act, the Laken Riley Act introduced the need for ICE to expand, according to some Congress members and immigration experts. Sen. Murray said at the time the agency would need $83 billion over three years to fulfill the legislation. Trump’s White House later devised a plan to commit DHS agencies   almost $75 billion over the next four years.  “When we started in the reconciliation bill process, seeing the massive amount of unprecedented funding, tripling the funding for ICE every year for the next four years,” Mannion said. “All of that is beyond concerning, and that’s why I voted against continuing resolutions, two of them for DHS and their funding.” Mannion’s criticism of and resistance to federal deportation efforts intensified throughout last year — the lone aberration being a June vote on a resolution condemning an anti-semitic terrorist attack in Colorado. The resolution also included language that thanked ICE for carrying out deportation operations. The House had already passed a bipartisan resolution decrying the attack and condemning anti-semitism, and Democratic leaders — including Rep. Jerry Nadler, who is the longest-serving Jewish member of Congress and co-chair of the Congressional Jewish Caucus — urged their party to reject Evans’ resolution. Congressman Dan Goldman, a Jewish representative from New York’s 10th District, excoriated the resolution, which he said “uses antisemitism as a political pawn.” Mannion and 74 other Democrats voted for the resolution.Mannion said the insertion of the language thanking ICE forced Democrats to choose between condemning anti-semitism and co-signing ICE, or refusing to acknowledge the agency and therefore refusing to condemn antisemitism. Mannion said condemning the terrorist attack was more important to him, and said he would embrace opportunities to explain that vote or others if constituents want more context on his reasoning. “We’re talking about flamethrowers and Molotov cocktails and this was a march and commemoration of the deaths that occurred on October 7,” Mannion said. “So it’s clearly a hate crime, and that’s why I voted for that resolution, as did many others.” Mannion and fellow Democrats are now locked in a stalemate with Congressional Republicans over bills that would continue to fund the Department of Homeland Security. Republicans need some Democrats to break party lines in order to pass the Republicans’ budget bills, but Democrats have vowed to withhold support unless Republicans commit to reforms at DHS. The stalled funding forebodes a shutdown at DHS. The DHS reforms the Democrats want include: Barring agents from entering private property without a judicial warrant Expanding use-of-force training Stopping racial profiling Requiring agents wear body-worn cameras Requiring agents stop wearing masks Requiring agents identify themselves and wear identifiable insignia The Senate failed Thursday to approve the legislation to continue funding DHS. However, ICE will be one of the DHS agencies least affected despite the temporary spending bill being voted down. ICE was guaranteed tens of billions in Trump’s budget bill last year the agency will have to spend over the next four years. Calls for the abolition of ICE have grown around the nation, and across Central New York, but Mannion is not currently supporting Michigan Representative Shri Thanedar’s “Abolish ICE Act” in the House. Instead, Mannion said that he supports other legislative measures seeking immigration enforcement reform, such as California Representative Scott Peters’ “Stop Excessive Force in Immigration Act of 2025”. Mannion added that he has requested to co-sponsor New Hampshire Congressman Chris Pappas’ “PUBLIC SAFETY Act,” which would redirect all ICE funding from Trump’s budget bill away from ICE and toward local law enforcement agencies. Mannion also indicated he would support the “ICE out of our Faces Act,” introduced by Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, which seeks to ban ICE and other DHS agencies from using biometric and facial recognition technology. It also forces those agencies to delete all data they have so far obtained for use in biometric surveillance systems. Though his district does not host any ICE detention facilities, Mannion is concerned about conditions for those in ICE detention.  The congressman signed on to a joint letter at the end of last year demanding greater oversight in ICE facilities, and Mannion told Central Current that he would consider touring a notorious detention facility in Batavia, New York, where some of Mannion’s constituents have been and still are detained.  Congressman Paul Tonko in Aug. 2025 attempted to tour that facility, but despite having full legal authority to perform unannounced congressional oversight of that facility, Tonko was rebuffed by immigration agents. Mannion said that as long as Trump’s federal immigration agencies continue to violate the Constitution, he will continue to block their funding and push for reforms. “Repeal and replace, honestly, is where I am on this. Obviously, this is well beyond the pale,” Mannion said. “When you have the Secretary of Homeland Security, after someone was killed by multiple federal agents, to go right to the media and call the person a domestic terrorist and lie to people’s faces — people see that for what it is. And they go, ‘what are we going to do? What is Congress going to do?’” The post To fix ‘broken immigration system,’ Mannion helped expand ICE’s powers. Now, he wants reform. appeared first on Central Current. ...read more read less