Buffalo activists demand Green Light implementation

Members of the Buffalo branch of Workers World Party and local activists demonstrated outside the Erie County Hall June 21 to protest County Clerk Michael “Mickey” Kearns’ announcement that he would not comply with the recently passed New York State “Green Light” law. Green Light, effective Dec. 14, grants undocumented immigrants the right to obtain a New York state identification card, shielding them from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detainment. Josh Bunting, a local activist who has been campaigning to get the Green Light law passed, pointed out that Kearns is backing up his noncompliance with bogus claims of unconstitutionality. 

The demonstration’s overarching message was that the treatment of undocumented people in the U.S. amounts to genocide and that Kearns’ position makes him an agent of genocide. Calls were made for his dismissal or resignation.