Zeldin Stands With Trump As Storm Rages
In the first week of Donald J. Trump’s presidency, a flurry of executive orders drew protests around the country. One order, signed on Friday, which called for an immediate, temporary ban on travel from seven predominantly Muslim countries to the United States by noncitizens, as well as banning entry by refugees from any nation, brought large crowds of protesters, and many lawyers, to several of the nation’s airports last weekend, including Kennedy International Airport, as travelers were detained or turned back. Public demonstrations against the ban followed marches that took place around the country, and the world, on Jan. 21, the day after Mr. Trump’s inauguration.
Representative Lee Zeldin, a Republican who defeated former Southampton Town Supervisor Anna Throne-Holst with 59 percent of the vote in November, defended the executive order barring entry by citizens of the seven countries, but at the same time said he would ensure that any misapplication of the order would be corrected.
In a press release on Sunday, and in written comments to The Star, Mr. Zeldin reported that he was directly involved in the release of an Iranian student, Vahideh Rasekhi, who is the president of Stony Brook University’s Graduate Student Organization. She had been detained for more than 24 hours at J.F.K. on Saturday and Sunday as she returned from a visit to her home country. The university is in the First Congressional District, which Mr. Zeldin represents.
Meanwhile, national protests directed at Mr. Trump have been mirrored, on a small scale, in Mr. Zeldin’s district. On Saturday, an estimated 150 to 200 constituents, including at least three from East Hampton, were outside the Sunset Harbour restaurant in East Patchogue, where Mr. Zeldin was honored by the Rotary Club of Shirley and the Mastics. On Tuesday, approximately 87 people protesting the executive order barring refugees and travel from the predominantly Muslim countries gathered at the Riverhead Library, where Mark Woolley, Mr. Zeldin’s district director, met with constituents.
A request to Mr. Zeldin’s communications director, Jennifer DiSiena, for a telephone conversation with The Star was declined. Instead, she provided written answers to questions.
To a question about the First District protests, Mr. Zeldin said he always appreciates hearing from constituents and is willing to work with anyone for the betterment of the community, state, and nation. He called for unity, pursuit of common ground, and the overcoming of differences.
Mr. Zeldin also said that lawful permanent residents who are not United States citizens, such as those holding green cards, should not be “adversely impacted” by the executive order on travel. The implementation of that order, however, has resulted in chaotic scenes at airports and the detention of green card holders as well as visa-bearing professionals who have jobs in this country and others who had worked for the U.S. in the countries targeted, including Iraq, in addition to students. Mr. Zeldin defended Mr. Trump for firing the acting attorney general when she declined to defend the executive order, writing that Mr. Trump had nominated Senator Jeff Sessions, Republican of Alabama, for the position and that Senate Democrats should allow a vote on the nomination.
The congressman also supported Mr. Trump’s pledge to launch a major investigation of the between three and five million people who, he has alleged without offering evidence, voted illegally in November for his opponent, Hillary Clinton. The president has said such an investigation would help strengthen the country’s voting system and “protect the integrity of our democracy.”
Meanwhile, not long after the election, Stephen Bannon, the president’s chief strategist and a former executive of Breitbart News, a so-called alt-right website, told The New York Times that the media is “the opposition party” and should “keep its mouth shut.” Mr. Zeldin commented that while many American journalists are “very professional” many others “have a very clear bias in their ‘reporting.’ ”