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The Vulnerable Congressman Seeking to be Re-elected to District 17 Tries To Walk a Narrow Tightrope But Mostly Failed To Satisfy A Rattled Audience
By Tina Traster
Congressman Mike Lawler faced an angry rattled crowd Sunday night at Rockland Community College in his fourth town hall held in Rockland County since he took office in 2023.
The 500-seat audience, which was at roughly 70 percent capacity, drew older, white attendees who let their displeasure be known from the outset. After a short introduction in which Lawler touted his achievements for District 17, included closing 8,000 constituent cases and bringing $40 million to “individuals,” the Congressman said he was proud of his instrumental role in passing the SALT increase, which raised the deduction for state and local taxes fourfold. He also spoke briefly about the need for housing, the scourge of high energy prices, and his accessibility to constituents, even in communities that may not support him.
The first question set the tone in the room when Brian B. (last names were not given) spoke about the deaths of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti, the characterization of these peaceful protestors by the Trump administration as domestic terrorists, and challenged the Congressman to acknowledge the rogue and murderous behavior by ICE.
In responding to this question, and most throughout the night, Lawler walked a ginger balancing act along a tightrope where on one side the vulnerable politician is hoping to keep his seat in the November 2026 midterm elections, while at the same time maintaining good favor with regional and national Republicans. He met with a continued chorus of discontent ranging from those who called him a liar to a young Hispanic man who was ejected by County Sheriff officers for saying “f*** you” out loud. Chants of “let him stay” and “shame, shame, shame” were ignored.
To the first question, he said, “What happened in Minneapolis was tragic.”
Someone in the audience called out the word “murder.”
“It was entirely preventable,” he continued, saying he was calling for a full and independent, transparent investigation. “There needs to be reforms. The way ICE has operated last year – a number of my colleagues have pushed back.”
One speaker talked about the “kidnapping” of Liam, the five-year-old child in the blue bunny hat who was used as bait to track down his father. Both father and son were shipped to a detention center in Texas but were returned to Minneapolis this week following a judge’s order.
“Where is your line?” a questioner asked. “What can Trump do that you will stand up and say ‘that’s wrong.’”
In a response that elicited a great deal of anger, Lawler returned to a plea to “let investigations take place,” adding that Liam’s father “ran away from the child. ICE agents were protecting the child.”
Lawler agrees ICE agents, who have brutalized both undocumented immigrants and American citizens alike in Minneapolis and other cities over the past several months should not wear masks, but he met with strenuous booing when he suggested that the replacement of Gregory Bovino with Tom Homan was a positive step. Lawler said that he didn’t agree with Donald Trump, J.D. Vance, Kristi Noem and Kash Patel calling Good and Pretti domestic terrorists – but rather than stopping there, he added that ICE should not be referred to as the Gestapo.
There remains ongoing debate over the immigration crisis in the United States, and Lawler references failures on the part of previous Democratic administrations for allowing the flow of illegal immigrants to enter and remain in the country. He said 10.5 million immigrants have come over the last five years, “overwhelming the cities and social safety net.” Lawler, whose wife is a naturalized U.S. citizen from Moldova, said he believed there should be a path for those who’ve “been in the country for five, ten years who have a job and a family, who are contributing to the economy,” adding that the path should not include citizenship.
The dialogue over ICE’s brutal tactics segued when Lawler pronounced his intention of preventing Rockland County from becoming a sanctuary city. Rockland County lawmakers are working on proposed restrictions similar to Westchester County’s that would limit when county employees could interact with federal immigration authorities. The legislation, which is expected to be introduced on Tuesday at the Rockland County Legislative meeting, is modeled on rules Westchester set eight years ago. The Westchester Immigrant Protection Act largely confines cooperation with immigration enforcement to criminal cases and instances when a judicial warrant is issued. It applies to the county’s public safety, corrections and probation departments — not to local municipal police departments in Westchester.
Guaranteed to be one of the most divisive issues in the upcoming midterm election, this was one issue where Lawler offered no nuance. He thundered his opposition for Rockland to become what he called a “sanctuary city,” and partially attributed the failure of ICE in Minneapolis on that city’s unwillingness to have law enforcement work with federal ICE officials.
In many instances, Lawler skirted questions, which made the crowd angry and hostile. One constituent wanted to know why Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard was present at a Georgia voting facility last week collecting ballot boxes from 2020.
The speaker asked Lawler what he was going to do to keep the administration from rigging the mid-term elections and protecting the America’s safe and secure elections. The Congressman said, “talks of rigged elections are stupid,” conceded Joe Biden won the 2020 election, and said there was nothing further to investigate. Then he added that Trump won with 2024 presidency, “much to the chagrin of many people in the room.”
At another point, Lawler baited angry constituents with “more than half the country doesn’t agree with you.” But multiple polls show that Trump’s support has fallen below 40 percent on a number of issues including immigration and the economy.
While he never addressed what Gabbard was doing in Georgia, he said he’s in favor of voter ID and proof of citizenship but opposes rank voting and same-day voter registration. When the next questioner said, “I’d like you to answer the question,” he carped “I answered it.”
Another attendee expressed concerns over the administration’s anti-science stance, specifically airing concerns about budget cuts to Lamont- Doherty. Lawler said he’s fighting to get funding cuts from Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill reinstated, along with ACA tax credits, which expired at the end of December, throwing millions of people off healthcare and doubling premiums for many on Obamacare.
Several times throughout the two-hour town hall meeting, Lawler pressed his case for multiple options for gas and electricity, including renewables, nuclear power, and natural gas, saying he believes in “all of the above.” He told the crowd that he celebrates “Black History,” even though the administration has gone to great lengths to erase African Americans and their achievements, and he said he supports bans on transgender men playing on women’s teams or using women’s locker rooms and transgender surgery for children under the age of 18. On the other hand, he did vote against Marjorie Taylor Greene’s proposed legislation to arrest parents who support children seeking medical transitioning.
