Several Dem candidates at a gubernatorial forum slammed ICE following the recent fatal shooting of Minnesotan Renee Good amid the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown.
Former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnes, former DOA Secretary Joel Brennan, Milwaukee County Exec. David Crowley, Rep. Francesca Hong, former WEDC chief Missy Hughes, Lt. Gov. Sara Rodriguez and Sen. Kelda Roys all spoke at the Main Street Action forum in Milwaukee Thursday evening.
The candidates answered a variety of questions at the event on topics such as health care, child care, paid family and medical leave, education and taxes.
Candidates were also asked about ICE’s presence in Minneapolis and how they would position themselves to maintain law and order and avoid being cast as “soft on crime,” while also protecting citizens from overreach by the federal government.
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Barnes said the state needs a governor who isn’t afraid to take a stand, will use every tool at their disposal, and will “empower” the state Department of Justice.
“Most importantly, a governor who’s going to be bold, a governor who won’t be afraid of the president’s retribution, regardless of what a president tries to do if you stand up and do the right thing,” Barnes said.
Hong called ICE a “rogue agency” that she said “is essentially comprised of white supremacists.” She said abolishing ICE “is a meaningful policy if we want to keep each other safe.” Crowley knocked the federal government as “an 800-pound gorilla that’s looking to descend into communities and instill fear and intimidation.”
Roys says the state needs to elect a governor “who will do everything in her power to stop this and protect us from harm, and hold every single ICE agent and every single enabler who breaks our laws fully accountable.”
Rodriguez touted her recently announced plan to enforce requirements for ICE agents, such as requiring them to be unmasked, to wear body cameras and to present a judicial warrant to enter certain spaces, such as schools, courthouses and churches.
“My husband is a naturalized citizen from Mexico. I have children, and we speak Spanish outside of the house,” Rodriguez said. “I am one of those targets, and so I wanted to make sure that people knew I stand with immigrants. I stand with Wisconsinites, and we are not going to take this from those federal agents.”
Also at the forum, Barnes, Brennan and Hughes were asked whether they would raise taxes on the wealthiest Wisconsinites to help provide services for those in need.
Barnes said the question was “an easy yes” because “the wealthy have gotten away without paying their fair share for far too long.”
Hughes did not commit to raising taxes for the wealthiest Wisconsinites.
“My focus is going to be on growing an economy, because my fear is that if we simply increase taxes on the wealthy, the next team will get elected and come back in and take that away,” Hughes said. “We need to build a sustaining economy. It could mean that we increase taxes on the most wealthy, but in addition to that, we need to be thinking about creating a system that works election after election and administration after administration.”
Brennan said he wants “everybody to be paying their fair share,” but said the state would need to elect a Dem-led Assembly and Senate to get that done. Still, he said: “I don’t think people trust us now, and they certainly don’t trust all Democrats to spend your money wisely.”
“And so we’ve got to make sure … we’re not ceding anything about operating government effectively and efficiently. That can’t just be a conservative Republican talking point. It’s something that we have to do,” Brennan added.
