Happy Dog Takes on ICE

OIA’s Executive Director, Lynn Tramonte, spoke at the Cleveland City Club’s “Happy Dog Takes on ICE” forum, held at this beloved Cleveland hot dog restaurant and bar on February 4. The crowd was standing-room only. She was joined by immigration lawyer Pat Espinosa and Chris Schmitt, Chief Executive Officer of the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association, who moderated the discussion.

The evening was covered by Spectrum News. While the entire video of the event is not available, due to technical difficulties, audio of the hour-only discussion is posted here (summary and transcript). View a photo gallery below (Photo Credit: Michaelanger’s Photography.)

During the Forum Tramonte said (23:32), “You have to abolish ICE. That doesn't mean you're getting rid of immigration laws. It doesn't mean you're not having enforcement. I worked at the INS for two years as a consultant before ICE existed. I was in DC when they created the Department [of Homeland Security], and it never made sense to me. They were putting all of these agencies in one huge department that had national security duties. But every federal agency has a national security duty, even the EPA, you know what I mean? So you have to follow the law, you got to follow the Constitution, it matters. It means something.”

When asked what she would change, if she could wave a magic wand and fix one aspect of the immigration system, Tramonte said (28:40): “Okay, well I have two. I'm going to cheat. So the first one would be ending immigration jail. We do not need it. It serves no purpose other than getting people other than psychologically breaking people so that they agree to give up on their case. So that's number one. And the number two would be legalization. I mean Congress, what are you doing? You don't like temporary protected status, then make it permanent. People cannot go back to Haiti.”

Read the entire transcript and listen to the audio recording.