Dozens of local people object to Dept. of Homeland Security office space in NEPA

30 people appeared at Tuesday’s Luzerne County’s Flood Protection Authority meeting — most objecting to its leasing of unused space in the authority’s Forty Fort headquarters to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. According to reports, most of he speakers during public comment urged the authority to cancel the lease due to the actions of the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE. The last speaker spoke in support of ICE and its local presence. Authority Board Chairman Dominic Yannuzzi said the five-member authority board is not political and is all-volunteer, and the authority’s lease negotiations started more than two years ago under the prior federal administration. Yannuzzi went on to say the lease is not an approval or disapproval of ICE policies and procedures and was “strictly business” to generate revenue from a substantial portion of the building not in use.