BW03152020 - Page 7

7 BROOKLYN WEEKLY, MARCH 15, 2020 Demonstrators gathered at La Cabaña on Flatbush Avenue. Photo by Todd Maisel Sanz. The violent arrest comes in the midst of growing outrage over aggressive ICE tactics in New York, which have recently included agents shooting a 26-year-old man in the face while arresting another man in Gravesend, and walking the streets of the Bronx with a large rifl e. State Senator Zellnor Myrie, whose district includes La Cabaña, said ICE has been targeting his district — where roughly two-thirds of residents hail from another country — with particular aggression, even stopping passengers of dollar vans to check for identifi cation. Myrie stressed the importance of knowing your rights when dealing with immigration agents, who require a judicial warrant to enter private property, not an administrative warrant. “They are under no obligation to open the door,” Myrie said. “They can not just barge in they can not come in, you have due process if you are in the United States no matter what your citizenship situation is.” ICE spokesperson Rachel Yong Yow claims Pimental — who, she said, has been on the agency’s radar since a Feb. 25 bar fi ght that ended in her arrest — had overstayed her work visa, which ended Sept. 22. Yong Yow said agents only reverted to using pepper spray after Pimental resisted arrest. TOLLS Continued from page 1 erbridge Crossing, Goethals Bridge and Bayonne Bridge. The Verrazzano currently charges EZPass holders $12.25 and non-E-ZPass holders $19 to enter Staten Island, while allowing Brooklyn-bound drivers in for free. The one-way tolling system, which was created in the 1980s to reduce traffic on the Staten Island side, is the only federally mandated one-way toll in the country, but legislation passed in December will split the toll in two. Once the Metropolitan Transit Authority installs the new tolling infrastructure, E-ZPass holders will fork over $6.12 and other drivers will pay $9.50 — but the MTA has a long way to go before installing the new toll system, Staten Island Advance reported in late January. As is, Brooklynites who commute to Staten Island every weekday pay $3,182.40 annually with an E-ZPass and $4,940 without one, while Staten Island residents with the resident discount pass pay $1,430 annually, according to Rose. Drivers will pay the same rate once split-tolling goes into effect, but the rep’s new bill would cut down Brooklynites’ annual toll fees to about $2,091 and Staten Islanders’ to $1,215. The proposal comes almost a year after a group of state legislators introduced legislation that would give Brooklynites the same resident discount on the Verrazzano that Staten Islanders receive. In April of 2019, State Senator Andrew Gounardes and Assemblywoman Mathylde Frontus introduced legislation offering Brooklynites who cross the bridge 10 or more times per month a resident discount, charging them $5.50 per ride as opposed to $12.25. That bill is still awaiting a vote in the Senate’s transportation committee and has been referred to the Assembly’s committee on corporations, authorities and commissions. Congressman Max Rose wants a discount for some tolls. Courtesy of Congressman Max Rose’s offi ce PROTEST Continued from page 1 ��