‘Prosecute ICE’ sculpture at Minn. Capitol destroyed; Jake Lang arrested
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A “Prosecute ICE’ sculpture commissioned by a veterans organization and staged Thursday on the steps of the Minnesota State Capitol was destroyed by a man pardoned for his participation in the Jan. 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol.
Jake Lang, a candidate for U.S. Senate in Florida and organizer of an anti-Islam demonstration in Minneapolis last month, posted video to his social media account showing him kicking down several letters from the sculpture that had spelled “Prosecute ICE” to spell ‘Pro ICE.” That came hours after veterans held a news conference alongside the ice sculpture voicing their concern over the federal immigration enforcement crackdown in Minnesota. They also urged members of Congress to cut funding to the Department of Homeland Security.
"As a United States Marine, I swore an oath to the Constitution, not a political party; not an agency, the Constitution,” veteran Peter McKenzie said around noon Thursday, when the “Prosecute ICE” message remained intact. “Peaceful protest is not extremism. It is a moral obligation when power stops policing itself. It is how we rouse the conscience of the nation before injustice becomes normalized."
Veterans group Common Defense said it supports state legislation that would allow people improperly detained by federal agents to sue over potential rights violations. Following the ice sculpture’s destruction, Jacob Thomas, the group’s communication director, reiterated the call to prosecute federal agents that violate Minnesotans’ constitutional rights and said Lang should also be held accountable.
“I gave eight years of my life in service to this country in the military. For a Jan. 6 insurrectionist to destroy our display is an attack on the First Amendment veterans like me fought to defend,” Thomas said. He said the federal agents who killed Renee Macklin Good and Alex Pretti last month in Minneapolis should be prosecuted.
On his X account, Lang said he had been arrested on a felony charge in Ramsey County. Lang was booked into the Ramsey County Jail Thursday afternoon.
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