Tuesday on CNN’s “The Lead,” Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ) said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents were a continuing “threat of violence and escalation.”
Kim said, “So I tried my best to get between the ICE agents and the crowd as the ICE convoy decided to just go ahead and plow through the crowd, which was just absolutely so dangerous of an action that they were doing. So I remember the pepper balls starting to get shot towards my feet and past me. I did not get hit directly by a pepper ball, but certainly between the pepper balls and then the pepper spray that was happening, I’d certainly had an irritation and burning sensation in my eyes and my throat.
He added, “But more broadly, this was something that was avoidable. We were trying to find a way to be able to move forward that wasn’t gonna escalate in this way. But ICE decided that they just had enough and they were going to just move ahead. And I just thought that was an incredibly dangerous action for them to do. And that continued problems, that continued threat of violence and escalation continues today. Tomorrow, I mean, it just we’re seeing just a heightened level of danger right now in New Jersey.”
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