Dem ex-New York Rep. Mondaire Jones claims he’s for tougher border security as he seeks a political comeback — but he championed “defunding” ICE when he ran for office in 2020, recently unearthed videos show.
Jones — who is facing off against freshman GOP Rep. Mike Lawler at the polls in November — was asked by a leader with the New York Immigration Coalition in a Zoom call in 2020 whether he supported defunding the federal Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agency and the US Customers and Border Protection Border Patrol agency.
“I’m in support of that,” Jones said at the time.
Jones added during the call that one of the reasons he ran for Congress in the Lower Hudson Valley in 2020 is that he opposed then-predecessor Rep. Nita Lowey and other Democrats agreeing to “increase the budget of ICE by 7% beyond the levels that had been approved by Republicans when they controlled the House of Representatives the year before.”
Outgoing New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman, the hard-left “Squad” member who lost his Democratic primary in June to Westchester County Executive George Latimer, also participated in the remote meeting.
Jones slammed the increase in ICE funding again during another taped forum with the immigrant community in Peekskill — only he went much further that time.
He said he would fight to give the 11 million undocumented immigrants who came here illegally a “pathway to citizenship,” which opponents slam as mass amnesty.
“I will fight to give a pathway to citizenship for all of the 11 million undocumented people in this country,” Jones said.
In addition, Jones also supported giving undocumented residents the same educational opportunities as citizens, as well as legal counsel for all asylum hearings.
Noting his own degrees from Stanford University and Harvard Law school, Jones said, “I want everyone regardless of immigration status to have the same opportunities that I was able to have growing up. That should not be an exception.”
He said the so-called Dreamers — undocumented young adults brought here as children and those seeking asylum — should have “permanent protection” in the US “regardless of who is the president of the United States.”
Jones said he’d fight against the “zero tolerance” policy of criminally prosecuting border-crossers.
But now, in his current comeback campaign to win back his old seat in the 17th House District, Jone said he supports “bipartisan” Senate border security legislation that “would make progress to secure our border and hire more border agents.”
The political action committee for House Democrats is also running ads saying Jones is “working to secure the border.”
The Lawler campaign said Jones can’t be trusted on bolstering border security given his previous mantra to “defund” the agencies entrusted to do so.
“Mondaire Jones will say or do anything to get elected. In 2020, he said the reason he was running for office was to defund ICE and Border Patrol, which is nuts,” said Lawler campaign spokesman Chris Russell.
“Now, he’s trying to say he supports border security because he knows it’s the only way he can get elected. But voters in NY-17 won’t be fooled by his lies _ Mondaire’s real position is the one he got caught on tape professing: defund ICE and CBP.”
Jones did not respond to a Post request for comment.
While in office, Jones also co-signed a letter promoting the “No Border Wall Coalition” that demanded the removal of military personnel from the US-Mexico border region and advocated for the take-down of barriers such as razor wire.
In a Facebook post just weeks earlier, Jones also had blasted the US Supreme Court for letting former President Trump “get away with” building a wall to help secure the border as well as impose a ban on immigration from Muslim countries.
The Cook Political Report rates the highly competitive and contentious Lawler-Jones race as “lean” Republican.
The 17th Congressional District encompasses all of Rockland and Putnam counties and parts of Westchester and Dutchess counties.
Lawler, a former state assemblyman, defeated Democrat Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney in 2022.
After redistricting, Jones, the incumbent in the 17th District, would have been pitted against Maloney in a primary. He instead moved to New York City and ran in the more liberal 10th District encompassing lower Manhattan and brownstone Brooklyn. He lost in the primary to Rep. Dan Goldman.
He is now attempting a comeback on his old turf in the 17th District against Lawler.