Unidentified Port Jervis resident alleges ICE abuses, warns of voter intimidation during public comment

An unidentified resident told the Port Jervis Common Council during the public comment period that people in U.S. custody, including individuals detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, have been subjected to torture and abusive treatment.

"I spoke of people being tortured in American custody, with ICE," the commenter said, adding that when they first heard reports years ago they were skeptical but later concluded the reports were true. The speaker also recounted two personal incidents of what they described as unnecessary police harassment — one at a festival where a person was allegedly assaulted after asking for an officer's badge number, and another incident in a neighboring community where officers questioned and detained the speaker while they were writing a poem in their car.

The commenter connected such incidents to a broader concern about elections, saying that "one of the ways to win elections is to terrify the voters into not going to the polls." The speaker urged the city to take precautions regarding ICE and suggested that law enforcement conduct can deter voter participation.

Time expired before an extended council response; no staff or official rebuttal to the specific abuse allegations appears in the meeting transcript. The council proceeded to its regular agenda items after the public comment period.