Podbit · The MeidasTouch Podcast
Governor Hochul recounts a refugee abandoned by ICE at a closed Buffalo coffee shop in February who froze to death wandering alone for five days. She argues ICE has been transformed from a standards-based agency into an undertrained enforcement army motivated by Stephen Miller's quotas and financial recruitment bonuses.
Where this was said
At 20:43 · chapter starts 19:05
Meiselas introduces the escalating pattern of ICE enforcement violence — two recent vehicle-stop killings prompting an emergency directive to cease most such stops — and asks why training wasn't the starting point rather than the afterthought. Hochul responds with a devastating anecdote: a refugee left by ICE at a closed Buffalo coffee shop in February who wandered alone for five days before freezing to death. [1] — Kathy Hochul "Governor Hochul recounts a refugee abandoned by ICE at a closed Buffalo coffee shop in February who froze to death wandering alone for five…" 20:43 She argues that the agency has been fundamentally transformed: where post-9/11 enlistees joined out of genuine border-security conviction, today's recruits were lured by financial bonuses to leave unrelated jobs. The result is an undertrained force operating on Stephen Miller's arrest quotas, sweeping up honor-roll teenagers, 25-year-running pizza shop owners, and families with no criminal history. Hochul is unsparing in her conclusion: no one is safe in their vehicles anymore, and the political backlash at the polls will be severe.
Following two killings during immigration enforcement, ICE was instructed to immediately cease most vehicle stops pending further training.
A refugee was abandoned at a closed Buffalo coffee shop in February by ICE and froze to death after wandering for five days.
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