Vivek Ramaswamy and Amy Acton weigh in on anti-ICE protests

Ohio gubernatorial candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Amy Acton have weighed in on recent protests over Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“We do have a constitutional right to criticize our government in this country and to protest peacefully,” Ramaswamy said. “Most Americans agree on that, I stand for it, absolutely, but the operative word here is peacefully, because we are also a nation that is founded on the rule of law.”

The Republican candidate spoke about the need for elected leaders to promote cooperation with ICE and local law enforcement in a January 19 interview with Fox News host Charlie Hurt.

“When you have local and state enforcement, and the people, more importantly, who direct them, the political leaders at the mayoral and governor levels, people like Tim Walz, undermining that collaboration, that’s when you really get chaos,” Ramaswamy said.

“I think one of the most important lessons learned in all of this, as someone who’s running for governor in my home state of Ohio, is how important state leadership is now, more than ever.”

Acton also commented on ICE in a Jan. 16 interview with Ideastream Public Media reporter Taylor Wizner. The interview appears to no longer be on the Ideastream website, but it is still available via the Wayback Machine.

“If people are here as criminals, if people are here illegally, we need to enforce the laws of this country and the laws of the state of Ohio,” Acton said. “But we need to do that lawfully.”

The Democratic candidate told Wizner that she believes that interactions between ICE officers and protesters reflect a need for training and that she would provide increased funding for law enforcement training if elected governor.

“Quite frankly, the Statehouse is not fully funding the local funds,” she said. “As governor, I’m going to be investing in that.”

Two ICE-focused demonstrations took place in Toledo on Jan. 18, according to a WTOL 11 report.

An anti-ICE protest was held on Sunday afternoon, where attendees told members of the press that they were concerned about the constitutionality of the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement policies and that they were concerned about ICE coming to Toledo.

A pro-ICE rally organized by Toledoans for Trump also took place in the city, an hour apart from the anti-ICE protest.

Organizers told interviewers that the rally was meant to promote peaceful assembly after what they described as the “mob-like” actions of protesters in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

“For me, it’s bringing people together and showing there’s a peaceful way to do things,” said attendee Michael Spears.

Both gatherings remained nonviolent, according to WTOL.