When he was running for Lehigh County Exec, Josh Siegel attempted to portray himself as a moderate who has matured and who no longer participates in "Fuck the Police" rallies and who no longer doxes mayors. Now that he's in office, he's dropped the charade. He and his Bobbsey twin, Lehigh County Controller and Congressional candidate Mark Pinsley, called a press conference to announce that they were evicting ICE from office space in a Lehigh County building. Siegel said he was evicting them and "would not accept their blood money." Pinsley crowed, "We're going to deport ICE." Sounds good. I don't like ICE myself. Except what these two maroons are really doing is putting an end to a task force that investigates human trafficking out of those county offices.
These are the same two dumbasses who wanted to give you both an increased sales tax and a county income tax.
Commissioner Ron Beitler, unlike either Siegel or his sidekick, offers this insight into what really is going on.
Lehigh County was in the news today following a hastily assembled press event by the County Controller. Commissioners were notified only shortly before it occurred.
Before I get into what happened, I want to be clear about where I am coming from. I consider myself politically independent. I do not operate with a team mentality and I believe that shows in my posts. I try to start with 2 things. First, a factual foundation for decision making. Second, advocacy for what I believe is in the best interest of Lehigh County. Period. That approach does not always fit neatly into partisan boxes.
Today, the Controller and County Executive called for the immediate eviction of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from county owned office space in Allentown, asserting that a federal agency has occupied the space for years without a fully executed lease or rent payments.
𝗛𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗺. 𝗜𝗖𝗘 𝗶𝘀 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘀𝗽𝗮𝗰𝗲.
A memorandum of understanding was signed by Homeland Security Investigations on October 31, 2022. It was passed unanimously by a Democrat majority and signed into law by a Democrat executive. This was before the current political environment surrounding immigration enforcement.
The intent was for the office to work closely with the Lehigh County District Attorney’s Office and local law enforcement, particularly on investigations involving human trafficking and other serious crimes. Much of this productive collaboration has been driven by our world class County Regional Intelligence Center.
Today, nothing has changed with the scope of work occurring in that office space. It remains a human trafficking task force. Critically important work. 𝗜𝗧 𝗜𝗦 𝗡𝗢𝗧 𝗜𝗖𝗘.
How do I know this? I picked up the phone and called the District Attorney and asked. Apparently neither the Controller nor the County Executive took the time to do the same. That is disappointing. Our District Attorney, who is well respected across the aisle, confirmed that the original intent of the agreement is being fulfilled and that the work being done there is exactly what it is supposed to be.
There is a legitimate issue that needs to be addressed. The lease and payment process stalled due to unresolved signature authority issues on the DHS side, which caused the MOU and subsequent lease to languish in the County Department of Law. That happens. Anyone who has dealt with intergovernmental agreements knows these issues can take time to resolve. This was a bureaucratic issue stemming on the fed side. DHS has indicated an intent to pay outstanding amounts once a fully executed agreement is in place. 𝗜 𝗮𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝗺𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗱𝗼 𝘀𝗼.
𝗪𝗲 𝘀𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝗮𝗯𝘀𝗼𝗹𝘂𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗲𝗻𝗳𝗼𝗿𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗰𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗲𝗰𝘁 𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆 𝗱𝗼𝗹𝗹𝗮𝗿 𝗼𝘄𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗟𝗲𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝘆. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗮𝗰𝗰𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗰𝘆 𝗮𝗯𝗼𝘂𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿𝗮𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗶𝘀𝘀𝘂𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝘂𝗰𝗵.
This situation is being framed as something it is not. What we are dealing with is a federal bureaucratic failure and a stalled lease process, NOT an ICE operation in a county building and NOT a change in the work being done in that space. Conflating the two misleads residents and undermines trust in county government.
We deserve better than press release driven opportunism. We owe residents facts, coordination among elected officials, and decisions rooted in those facts rather than political theater. In today’s environment, careless implications about what is happening inside county facilities, especially when untrue, can inflame tensions and put people at risk.
Furthermore evicting the DHS from this county building is NOT evicting ICE (they aren't operating out of the building). It is evicting a critically important human trafficking task force. To think politicians would put that relationship at risk to score political points is.... well sad. I can't think of another way to put it. This whole thing is sad.
I don't do theater. Above is my understanding of this issue.
What questions do you have? I will do my best to answer them.
***𝘛𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘕𝘖𝘛 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘵 𝘐𝘊𝘌. 𝘛𝘩𝘰𝘴𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘴𝘤𝘶𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘴, 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘺 𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘭***
Readers of this blog know I think ICE is totally out of control. Just today, I viewed a news account about off-duty police officers who are American citizens being targeted by ICE in the Minneapolis area simply because of their skin color.
But leave it to Siegel and Pinsley to make ICE look good.
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