Is Tony Cardone Going to Send You to a Concentration Camp?
The Monroe town supervisor's potential agreement with the Orange County Sheriff's Department could lead to increased collaboration with ICE, raising concerns for anyone who isn’t white.
Before we get into today’s post, I want to alert you to the upcoming No Kings event on Saturday, October 18.
There are events currently scheduled in Warwick (10 a.m.), Newburgh (10 a.m.), Cornwall (noon), and Middletown (3:15 p.m.).
The first No Kings event, held on June 14, was one of the largest mass demonstrations in American history.
Whether it’s the largest is subject to some debate because of the decentralized nature of the protests. (There is no one organization putting these things together; it’s a coalition of organizations and individuals in their communities holding these gatherings, so a final official count is hard to come by.)
Regardless of what the actual numbers are, if you’re unhappy with a 100% tariff on name-brand pharmaceuticals, which goes into effect on October 1, you should be there.
If you’re unhappy with Trump’s dementia making him unable to govern and leaving Stephen Miller in charge to commit war crimes, you should be there.
And if you’re unhappy about the subject of today’s story—ICE doing things like the following—you should be there:
Before we move on, I want to point out the failure of the Town of Monroe Democratic Committee (Bill Kazdan, Peggy Kazdan, Cristina Bruek Kiesel, and friends) and the Town of Woodbury Democratic Committee (Matthew Fabbro, Rhonda Fabbro, Willa Freiband, James Freiband, John U. Keleman, Tyler Etzel Jr., Valerie Hebel, and friends) to coordinate with local Indivisible groups and hold events here in Monroe and Woodbury.
The fact that none exist should help demonstrate what I’ve been trying to convey to you about these people:
They don’t care about you.
They only care about what’s good for themselves, the wealthy, and the well-connected.
Something you should also share if State Senator James G. Skoufis — he of Little Dick Energy — or Congressman AIPAC Ryan show their faces.
To date, State Senator Skoufis has offered no public statements—just mumbling —about his support for the New York For All Act and the New York Melt Act, while also saying it’s too expensive to pass the New York Health Act.
(I’ll remind you here that the New York For All Act would prohibit state and local agencies from collaborating with ICE. Pay attention to that point, because we’re going to return to it at the end of this story.)
The New York Melt Act would prohibit ICE agents from wearing masks during their immigration raids, eliminating the questions some residents have about the authenticity of ICE agents who do show up at their door, which is a growing problem.
And, although this is off-topic, over a million New Yorkers are going to lose their health insurance once the MAGA Murder Bill (the “One Big Beautiful Bill”) activates on January 1, 2027.
That may sound a long time away, but states and agencies are already preparing to make changes to prepare for these cuts and changes. Mr. Skoufis, dickless wonder that he is, has told people the New York Health Act is “too expensive” to pass. So Skoufis’s solution is, “Can’t afford health insurance? Don’t have a job that provides health insurance? Too bad. Die.”
Meanwhile, Skoufis is constantly bragging about all the tax cuts he’s getting passed.
The New York Health Act would provide coverage to anyone in New York State who needs it, cover what Medicare does not cover—it doesn’t impact your Medicare coverage, although Trump is about to mess with what gets authorized and what does not with Medicare using AI— and in the long run saves the state money.
Not to mention, keep your property taxes low, because those are going to skyrocket the second hospitals start shutting down, which a lot of them will in New York State with the Medicaid cuts in the MAGA Murder Bill.
Special shout out to Congressman Mike Lawler down in Rockland, who was the deciding vote to send the MAGA Murder Bill to the Senate before it went back to the House for final passage. (It passed by one vote the first time. His.)
But let’s not let Congressman AIPAC Ryan off the hook here either. His office still refuses to clarify his position on House Resolution 54, which is supported by other state Democrats and would introduce a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United.
Instead, he started a brand new political action committee called the Patriot PAC. Probably to cover up for the fact that his largest donor, by far, is the Trump billionaire funded, and pro-genocide AIPAC (The American Israel Public Affairs Committee) and Peter Thiel’s Palantir Technologies.
You should definitely keep an eye on who’s funding Congressman Pat Ryan’s new PAC. I’m willing to bet it exists in part to help hide those AIPAC donations, especially because a majority of Americans now oppose what Israel is doing in Gaza. AIPAC Ryan wants to keep that money coming, but like a lot of the Corporate Democrats, doesn’t want to know, or hear, about the war crimes of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
And while you’re at it, you should also ask AIPAC Ryan about why, despite the unanimous protest of the District of Columbia’s leadership, he voted in favor of eliminating D.C.’s ability to select their judicial appointments and legalized potentially dangerous police chases.
Oh, right, sorry. Two more things on Pat Ryan, just in the event you still think he’s “one of the good ones.”
This summer, he joined House Democrats to make it easier for private equity firms to scam working-class investors and was one of very few House Democrats to join the Republicans in passing the GENIUS Act. This dangerous piece of legislation puts us on a path to another global economic recession while simultaneously doing nothing to rein in the billions in profits the Trump family is raking in via cryptocurrency.
So, I don’t know about you, but I’m kind of tired of hearing about how great our Congressman is.
If Pat Ryan or Skoufis shows up to one of these No Kings events, you should give both of them hell.
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I.C.E. & The Orange County Sheriff’s Department, Sitting in a Tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G
Ok, I need to tell you two things before we get into this story.
First, I have a FOIL (Freedom of Information Law) request in with the Orange County Sheriff’s Department concerning all of their communications with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) going back to January.
I am also gearing up to submit a FOIL request for all contracts, documentation, and discussions between Orange County and ICE involving the use of the Orange County Jail.
A place, by the way, that State Senator Skoufis and Congressman Pat Ryan have denied requests to inspect.
Mr. Skoufis claimed he could not enter the facility when asked.
Congressman Ryan’s office has not clarified when, or if, he will inspect the facility. So, much like his support for a constitutional amendment overturning Citizens United, it’s probably safe to assume the answer is “never.”
Crooked County Executive, Steve Neuhaus, declined to answer questions when asked to confirm whether Mr. Skoufis was lying about his inability to visit the Orange County Jail to inspect the wing dedicated to ICE detainees.
Speaking of the guy you shouldn’t re-elect as your County Executive …
Back in 2024 during Steve Neuhau’s State of the Orange County address, which you can watch below, you can hear FOX News-brained Neuhaus call the situation at the southern border a “national security crisis” and then follow that with the claim that a man was caught at the border during Neuhau’s visit with 25 pounds of fentanyl.
“Enough to kill the city of New York,” Neuhaus said.
Like his dubious story about emailing people at the Pentagon concerning the drone crisis—a FOIL request completed by Orange County claimed no emails to the Pentagon exist—Neuhaus never provided any information to back up his story about the man with enough fentanyl to “kill the city of New York” either.
We asked.
We also asked who would bear the brunt of expansion costs to the Orange County Jail and stepped-up enforcement with ICE. In a statement released to The Monroe Gazette back in January we were told:
“Orange County Executive Steve Neuhaus is a strong law-and-order elected official. He has and will continue to coordinate with all lawful local, state, and federal government efforts. The cost, if any, of such governmental cooperation is nominal, as the costs are typically included within already budgeted amounts and with present employees.”
Whether or not that’s true, we’ll let you know, because there have been a lot of infrastructure improvements at the jail approved by the Orange County Legislature since that statement was made to us by Team Neuhaus.
Go to 16:20 and watch through 18:00 in the above video to see Mr. Neuhaus tell another one of his Tall Tales for Short Men.
Now, you should know Mr. Neuhaus was lying about the border the same way Fox News was.
We know this because math doesn’t lie, and the math from Pew Research said that 2024 saw a sharp decline in border crossings, going from a high in 2023 of 249,741 in August of that year to just over 58,000 in August of 2024.
That doesn’t mean the situation at the border is good—it’s not—but the “national security crisis” that Trump, Fox, and Neuhaus all played up was really a direct result of Congress failing to pass national immigration reform laws.
Second, I’ve been working on this story involving the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and its alleged collaboration with ICE for about two months now.
The story goes like this:
During the September 4, 2025, Orange County Legislator meeting — which you can see above— Poo Gas Peter (Orange County Legislator Peter Tuohy) managed not to gaslight a single person about the hydrogen sulfide situation in the Village of Monroe.
I’m kidding. Mostly.
He held his gaslighting for the September Orange County Sewer District 1 meeting, which we’ll discuss in an upcoming article.
No, what happened was, starting at 1:29:34 in the above video, multiple people spoke during public comment session about an incident that occurred on August 29 at the Newburgh Target. So I started to do some investigating. During that time, I was sent the following flyer:
So, I reached out to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to clarify whether the Sheriff’s deputies participated in an ICE raid in Newburgh as alleged. The Sheriff’s Department spokesperson said:
“We are aware of the information being circulated on social media and being shared throughout the community that suggests the Orange County Sheriff’s Office is conducting ‘ICE raids.’ We understand the concern this has raised. We would like to clarify: The Orange County Sheriff’s Office was in the Newburgh area last week, conducting local police and sheriff’s operations; deputies were not conducting an immigration enforcement operation with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.”
Now, here’s something to know: the person speaking during the public comment at 1:29:34 is not some random guy. Ignacio Acevedo works for the New York City American Civil Liberties Union (NYCACLU).
So, I reached out to the NYCACLU with the Sheriff’s statement, and asked to speak with Ignacio.
NYCACLU wrote back saying “With apologies, we don’t have capacity for an interview, but attaching a video that shows that the Sheriffs claims are patently false.
They added in a follow-up statement, “Last week, a sheriff’s deputy exited the car of a driver who is heard on video suggesting that the enforcement action last week was an ICE raid. Our team raised concerns and asked questions. Despite the Sheriff’s attempt to clarify, he has not yet explained this interaction.”
Based only on the video, I personally think it’s hard to tell what’s going on.
I can’t see the person in the other car, whom the Sheriff’s deputy exited, who said they were doing an I.C.E. raid. I also can’t tell if it was another Sheriff in that vehicle or an I.C.E. agent.
But here’s what I do know …
I put in a FOIL request for all records involved with that day and location with the Sheriff’s Department, and I’ll let you know if I get anything back.
I also know that Orange County Sheriff, Paul Arteta, donated $200 to MAGA Mayoral Candidate Brandon Calore back in June of this year.
And anyone giving Brandon Calore money is suspect in my book.
Especially after this past week’s events, wherein …
1. Brandon Calore had a member of the Democratic Committee—John U. Keleman, a failed village trustee candidate last year—threaten a local business and say, “You don’t want to get on Brandon’s bad side.”
2. And Mr. Calore’s campaign manager, a big booster of RFK Jr., Elias Cunningham, was accused of ripping down “We The People of Woodbury” signs while leaving Mr. Calore’s signs up. (Nice truck, Elias.) (Note to readers: This incident is under investigation by the New York State Police and we have placed a FOIL for those records as well. So, if Mr. Elias Rosado-Cunningham is charged with a crime, we’ll let you know. Given that Brandon Calore was arrested, but not charged, for assaulting a disabled teenager in an ice cream shop parking lot in Woodbury, don’t hold your breath.
Our District Attorney Michael Hoovler — up for re-election too this year, by the way — isn’t big on charging his fellow Republicans with crimes. Just ask Town of Monroe Councilman, Sal Scancarello.
So, take all of this to say, while I believe there are brave men and women who work for the Sheriff’s Department, I’ve got some questions about what’s going on here with their relationship — and the county’s relationship — with I.C.E.
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What Does This Have to Do With Concentration Camps?
With me so far? Because here’s how all of this ties back to the question of whether Tony Cardone is going to send you to a concentration camp.
First, as we’ve already covered here at The Monroe Gazette, Tony Cardone, Dorey Houle, and Sal Scancarello are bad at their jobs. The fact that Mr. Scancarello still has a job, after his son Anthony was alleged to threaten to murder two Jewish men at the Monroe Target, is also astounding to me.
Unlike the local Democrats, who work for the wealthy and well-connected, most—not all—of the local Republicans also work for that same crowd. Woodbury Town Supervisor Kathryn Luciani, Woodbury Town Board members Kelly Rinaldi and Brandon Calore, and Steve Neuhaus.
But there’s an added twist: Some of those local Republicans are also incompetent.
In Cardone and Houle’s case, I’ll give you two examples.
- Dorey Houle ran for State Senate twice and lost both times against a weak, ineffectual corporate bootlicker named James G. Skoufis.
During Dorey Houle’s second attempt at running against Skoufis, instead of hammering him on his refusal to help the people in South Blooming Grove, or his attempt to merge the Town and Village of Woodbury to make it easier for the Village of Kiryas Joel to annex the ACE Farm property, or how everyone in Albany calls him “pee pee boy,” or how he cheated on his wife with his chief of staff, or how he’s done nothing to support significant legislation like the ones I mentioned at the start of this article, or the New York Privacy Act, or campaign finance reform, she did this:
That’s right. Instead of going door to door and documenting all the ways State Senator Skoufis is a punk bitch, she ran a racist dog-whistle TV ad.
One that not only highlighted her complete and total lack of qualifications for the job (“I’m a cop’s wife” … Ok. That’s nice. And?) but also vowed to get “tough on crime” involving Black and Brown people. (It also showed she’s bad at math. Dorey claims to be running for two reasons: To get tough on crime and keep your neighborhoods safe. But implicitly, THOSE ARE THE SAME GODDAMN THINGS!)
I can also factually say this because if you look at the white-collar crime that may be happening under Tony Cardone’s watch—like voting for a sewer drainage district that would financially benefit him since it enriched the value of property he owned, or using town resources to build out the area around that property, or ignoring a dangerous chemical leak for years on a children’s playground—Dorey Houle presented herself as someone who was going to “get tough” on anyone who wasn’t white.
- In Cardone’s case, I mentioned the hydrogen sulfide issue just now. I’ve also already told you about his complete inability to get anything done as your Monroe Town Supervisor, aside from wasting your money on things nobody wants or asks for, like a non-emergency contact line. Something Woodbury’s MAGA Tom was hyping. Probably to impress his girlfriend who’s running for office, because he can’t satisfy her in the bedroom. I don’t know. But why else gas up someone who’s only qualification for being an elected official is “Good at nodding my head whenever Supervisor Luciani speaks”?
(At the time of this writing, the Town of Monroe has delayed our request to log and identify all calls received to that emergency line, after Mr. Cardone claimed they received many.)
But let’s go back for a second to what happened with the Village of Monroe Police Department.
Back in January, Tony Cardone and Dorey Houle met with the Village of Monroe and asked if the Village would be open to expanding the presence of the Village Police.
This would provide coverage to Town residents who are currently dependent on the State Police.
(State Police who are often busy and understaffed, patrolling a massive area of various municipalities, including Monroe.)
Then, according to sources with direct knowledge on the matter, Cardone and Houle went silent for months.
Why?
Your guess is as good as mine.
Then in June, Houle and Cardone came up with an Intermunicipal Agreement that they sent to the Village, without any members of the public seeing it or being given a chance to speak on it, and without sharing this agreement with other members of their Town Board.
The Village reviewed the IMA and then asked Mr. Cardone questions. Mr. Cardone, as we highlighted, was comically unable to answer any questions and seemed genuinely puzzled why the Village would be reluctant to enter into an agreement with the Town, where the Village absorbs all the costs, all the liabilities, and all the responsibility for managing a police presence there.
So, Tony Cardone and Dorey Houle did what they always do: they went quiet again. For months.
Now suddenly, on October 6 at 7 p.m. at Town Hall, there’s going to be a public hearing concerning law enforcement in the Town of Monroe. Something Dorey Houle waited until the very last minute to announce at the September 15th, 2025, Board meeting.
When I called and spoke to representatives of the Village about this new public hearing, they told me that when I brought it up, it was the first time they were aware of it.
Then I heard that Tony Cardone and Dorey Houle had a new idea, one they also told nobody about: They want the Orange County Sheriff’s Department to provide coverage to Town of Monroe residents.
Now do you realize why I gave you all this context?
If you don’t, let me break this down for you:
According to the United States Holocaust Museum, a concentration camp is defined as follows: “The term concentration camp refers to a camp in which people are detained or confined, usually under harsh conditions and without regard to legal norms of arrest and imprisonment that are acceptable in a constitutional democracy.”
As you may know, unless you’re watching CBS or Fox News, the ICE detention facilities are essentially operating as taxpayer-funded concentration camps.
Don’t believe me?
In Burlington, Massachusetts, Nexan Aroldo Asencio claimed he was forced to sleep on a “wet” and “foul-smelling” bathroom floor. Others held at this facility claimed it as overcrowded, with little food, little to no water, and nowhere to bathe. Women held at the facility claimed 18 women were placed into a small room with one toilet, with a camera placed over that toilet.
ICE’s own inspectors blew the whistle on their flagship Fort Bliss facilities in Texas, not providing detainees with their medications or access to attorneys. Note that last line from the U.S. Holocaust Museum and remember that the 14th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution grants equal protection to all people in the U.S., regardless of citizenship.
More than one man at Alligator Auschwitz was deported before even having a hearing, and hundreds of others have now been reported missing according to The Miami Herald. Many of these people were kept outside in chain-linked fences (sound familiar? It should if you’ve ever seen pictures of a concentration camp in World War II or the Japanese internment camps here in the U.S. during that time).
And over in my former home of Chicago, Congressional candidate Kat Abughazaleh, who has bigger balls than Pat Ryan can ever dream of possessing, was groped and thrown to the ground after peacefully protesting alongside other ICE demonstrators.
So, if the Orange County Sheriff’s Department is providing police oversight to Town of Monroe residents, there are a lot of questions here.
And so I asked Mr. Cardone and Mrs. Houle the following:
Mr. Cardone and Mrs. Houle,
I understand, without explanation, you’ve decided not to continue your IMA negotiations with the Village of Monroe. Instead, you are now discussing working with the OC Sheriff’s Department to provide police coverage to the Town of Monroe. Let’s start with an easy question: In your proposal to the Village—which was never presented to the public or your entire Board for a vote or discussion—you wanted the Village to absorb virtually all costs and responsibilities for providing additional police protection. Did you make the same offer to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department?
Did you do so also without a vote or discussion with the public or the entire Town Board?
Are you aware of the Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s alleged collaboration with ICE? If so, what do you say to our Latino residents of Monroe, whom the Supreme Court recently ruled can be racially profiled by ICE simply by virtue of being Latino? (See: Noem v. Vasquez-Perdomo)
Are you aware that ICE, and potential partners such as the OC Sheriff’s Department, are sending residents and U.S. citizens—the majority of detainees who have not committed any crime—to taxpayer-funded concentration camps? (That’s from the Cato Institute, by the way. Not exactly a liberal organization.)
Do you support sending Monroe residents to concentration camps, Mr. Cardone and Mrs. Houle?
Given that the OC Sheriff’s Department is alleged to collaborate with ICE, what oversight, if any, will there be involving the role of the Sheriff’s Department in these activities within the Town of Monroe?
What oversight, if any, do you propose concerning ICE operations within the Town of Monroe, generally speaking?
And finally, Mrs. Houle, you ran racist dog-whistle advertisements during your campaign for State Senate, where you said you were a cop’s wife who was going to get “tough” on crime.
Would you care to elaborate on your position regarding whether getting “tough” on crime involves racially profiling Brown people and sending them to concentration camps?
If Mr. Cardone and Mrs. Houle bother to answer—and they likely won’t, because Dorey has hilariously told people that if they want the truth, they should come to a Town Board meeting, only to then have Tony Cardone gaslight everyone less than a minute later by claiming he, Dorey Houle, and Sal Scancarello were for preserving the Rye Hill property, which they absolutely weren’t …
But. If they do respond, I will, of course, share their answers with you.
If you are a Monroe resident, you should have some legitimate concerns here.
For one, we don’t yet fully understand what the relationship is between ICE and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.
But given that there’s some evidence to suggest collaboration, I’d be worried about whether they would protect you from ICE enforcement within the Town of Monroe, where they would have jurisdiction as your local police presence.
Which brings me to one last thing.
In Illinois, the Broadview Police Department is investigating an ICE assault on a CBS Chicago TV reporter’s vehicle. An ICE agent is accused of launching a “chemical munition” at the vehicle from the direction of the ICE facility. This incident followed another earlier incident where a journalist was detained by ICE while reporting at the facility.
My concern is that if the OC Sheriff’s Department agrees to provide coverage to the Town of Monroe — given the alleged coordination with ICE — such oversight as we’ve seen in Broadview won’t happen in Monroe.
In fact, there would be no oversight at all because the County is incentivized to keep their lucrative financial arrangements with ICE in place. And the Sheriff’s department is a unit of Orange County, not the Town of Monroe.
So you’d be out of luck.
Especially if you’re not white.
And that brings us to the question that started this article: Is Tony Cardone going to send you to a concentration camp?
If he signs an Intermunicipal Agreement (IMA) with the Village of Monroe, here’s what we know: According to people close to the Village and the Village Police, ICE does not communicate with them at all.
They just show up, do their enforcement actions, and then leave. So, although we’d prefer the Village to pass a resolution—even if it’s ceremonial—asking ICE to present identification when requested, and calling on State Senator Skoufis to call an emergency session of the Legislature, to pass the New York For All Act and New York Melt Act, we know they’re not actively collaborating with ICE.
If Cardone signs an IMA with the Sheriff’s Department, I can’t say the answer to the question I asked in today’s headline is no.
Because while he won’t be putting the cuffs on himself—he’s too weak of a man to do that—he’s certainly creating an opportunity for the Sheriff’s Department to do so, and they don’t seem to have the same reservations the Village of Monroe does regarding ICE.
I also don’t see any movement by Houle, Scancarello, and Cardone — the majority of your Monroe Town Board — to pass a resolution, even if it’s ceremonial, asking I.C.E. agents operating in the town to provide identification when asked and demanding that State Senator Skoufis call an emergency session of the legislature and get the New York For All and New York Melt Act passed.
(By the way, Woodbury people, you should be asking your Town and Village Board to do the same thing with these resolutions.)
So.
My recommendation, aside from requesting your early mail ballot here and making sure you vote for Bethany Stephens, Luis Rivera, and Maureen Richardson on the Preserve Monroe line—which would successfully end Tiny Tony’s near-decade reign of incompetent tyranny—is to attend the public hearing at 7 p.m. on October 6.
While there, you should loudly demand that Mr. Cardone and Mrs. Houle explain why it’s taken nearly a year to negotiate and sign an agreement with the Village and the Village Police Department.
And why they’re choosing now to abandon those discussions and empower an agency, the Sheriff’s Department, that could be enabling Trump’s gestapo and sending people to tax-payer funded concentration camps, as defined by the US Holocaust Museum.
(And while we’re at it, you should find the local Democratic Committee members like Bill and Peggy Kazdan, Cristina Bruek Kiesel, Larry Lezak, and their associates, and loudly ask them what they plan to do about Mr. Cardone inviting ICE and potential ICE collaborators into our community.
Because if they don’t have a problem with that, all of them should be flushed down the toilet of history and replaced by actual Democrats on the committee who care about the people who live here.
Ditto in Woodbury.