By Adam Pagnucco.
District 39 Delegate Gabriel Acevero, who has previously called Israel’s war against Hamas taxpayer-funded genocide, has lashed out against all nine Montgomery County state senators over their criticism of immigrant rights group CASA.
First, a recap. Earlier this week, CASA – an organization funded in part by taxpayers – released and then deleted a number of tweets criticizing Israel for defending itself from Hamas. Among other things, the tweets referred to “the heinous practice of terror currently unleashed by Israel in Gaza,” compared the plight of Palestinians to Black and Brown people in America and expressed sympathy for “indigenous peoples” without recognizing that Jews are indeed indigenous to Israel.
That provoked furious responses from Council Members Andrew Friedson, Gabe Albornoz and Natali Fani-Gonzalez and the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington with the Anti-Defamation League of Washington, DC. Perhaps the most severe response came from all nine Montgomery County state senators, who vowed that no tax dollars would fund hate speech and implicitly threatened CASA’s state funding.
For his part, CASA Executive Director Gustavo Torres has expressed remorse for his organization’s tweets. According to the Washington Post:
Torres said in an interview that “we believe that we made a big mistake.”
“The message that we were trying to communicate was not well written because it was not our intention to hurt people we have known, respected and worked with for years,” Torres said, adding that the organization is working on a new statement in consultation with some Jewish community leaders. “We believe the best solution is a peaceful solution, and we profoundly apologize because we offended our friends.”
Torres may want to make peace, but Acevero – who openly accuses Israel of genocide – definitely does not. In two posts on Facebook, Acevero wrote:
Nine (9) Montgomery County state senators put out a letter publicly threatening to cut state funding to immigrant communities across Maryland over their disagreement with a person’s first amendment speech.
You can disagree with someone’s policy position but targeting funding for new American communities over it is xenophobic. That letter needs to be retracted…
If you live in Montgomery County you need to ask your state Senator why they felt it appropriate to sign on to a xenophobic letter threatening funding cuts for immigrant communities that THEY represent. I expect things like this from Republicans, not Democrats from Montgomery County. Shameful.
Acevero then issued this statement condemning the senators on his General Assembly letterhead.
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As an immigrant, state legislator, and member of the House Appropriations Committee, I am disgusted that nine Montgomery County state Senators would blatantly threaten to starve immigrant communities in Maryland of state funding. Let me be very clear, I will call out and fight any attempt by any Democrat in Annapolis to target resources for new Americans. People can disagree on policy positions, but threatening funding for critical services for immigrants because you disagree with their First Amendment protected speech is xenophobic. Immigrants contribute billions every year to our state’s economy, we helped build Maryland and this country. Targeting financial aid for our community is both disrespectful and a betrayal. I don’t tolerate xenophobia from Republicans, and I won’t tolerate it from Democrats. I am calling on the Montgomery County Senate Delegation to retract the insensitive letter they authored and rethink how they communicate with our community, and their constituents.
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A note about Acevero. When he was first elected in 2018, he was an employee of MCGEO, the largest non-MCPS county employee union. After he was fired from MCGEO, union president Gino Renne teamed up with the district’s senator and the other two delegates to attempt to defeat him in 2022 and failed. (I wrote that history last year.)
I have never seen a MoCo delegate take on all of the county’s state senators in this way before. Additionally, Acevero is sure to face the full fury of the local Jewish community for his refusal to retract his accusation that Israel is committing genocide.
What will happen when Acevero runs for reelection?