Government & Politics

Hostile Crowd Steals Show at Lawler Town Hall in Westchester

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An estimated 600 people jammed into Kennedy Catholic School in Somers Sunday to let Rep. Mike Lawler know their feelings on the current state of the federal government. (photo by Abby Luby)

May 5, 2025

By Abby Luby—

A raucous crowd of about 600 people showed up at Republican Congressman Mike Lawler’s Westchester town hall meeting Sunday in northern Westchester and spent the better part of two hours jeering and booing at the New York representative for the 17^th district.

Lawler’s first town hall meeting last week in Rockland County also was rowdy.

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Sunday’s meeting was held in Somers at the Kennedy Catholic Preparatory School where attendees had to provide proof residing in the 17^th district and were asked not to record the event. Security was heavy with numerous State Police inside and outside the building, along with men in black baseball caps and black T-shirts marked “Security” cruising the auditorium aisles.

A question was asked about the right to due process and Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the Maryland resident who was mistakenly deported to a mega prison in El Salvador without a court hearing.

Lawler cited the Supreme Court ruling that the Trump administration had to “facilitate” Abrego Garcia’s return.

“When you talk about due process, he (Abrego Garcia) is not going to be returned to be released, he’s going to be returned to be deported again,” Lawler explained.

Lawler said if the administration does not abide by the court’s order, the administration can be held in contempt. “If that does not work, Congress has oversight responsibility and should engage.” He did not explain how Congress would carry out their responsibility.

One questioner noted that Trump has openly defied the Constitution and asked Lawler, “At what point do you actually stand up for the Constitution? What have you done so far?”

Lawler launched into a lengthy description of how Congress is currently going through reconciliation and appropriation for fiscal year 2026 and how freezing spending and revoking previous grants was a necessary part of fulfilling their constitutional duty.

“That’s the constitutional process when it comes to spending cuts,” he answered.

Lawler’s responses tended to be more like mini civics lessons with historical background including various elections results. He occasionally veered off to loosely related topics which seemed to frustrate most attendees who lost patience and shouted at him.

As the evening progressed, the crowd grew more agitated, yelling between questions. Mentioning either Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., or Elon Musk’s DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) drew clamorous boos.

One woman said her husband was a plumbing contractor and was fearful of tariffs raising prices on certain plumbing and construction products.

“The costs on imported and domestic goods will go up,” she said. “What are you going to do about that? It’s going to be impossible for a contractor to build a house.”

Lawler stressed that if a product is made in the U.S., tariffs will have no impact. He went on to claim how “we have lost manufacturers to China and India and it has not been great for manufacturers all across this country. We will renegotiate with many counties to our benefit long term.”

Tariffs will reduce the country’s trade deficits, noted Lawler.

Currently, $918.4 billion is the overall U.S. trade deficit. According to a recent report by the Tax Foundation, while tariffs may reduce the bilateral trade deficit with specific countries, they are unlikely to significantly reduce a country’s overall trade deficit.

The overall animosity was raised to a fever pitch when five armed State Police physically removed resident Emily Feiner, a local social worker, from the meeting. Although it was unclear why she was being removed, the crowd shouted “Let her stay! Let her stay!” When she was taken out of the auditorium the crowd yelled “Shame! Shame! Shame!”

Asked about proposed cuts to the NEA (National Endowment of the Arts), PBS (Public Broadcasting System), libraries, museums, Lawler defended the cuts, pointing out the country’s deficit.

“We are $36 trillion in debt and both parties have been responsible for excessive spending. Congress is going to be working on the spending on these programs…and making decisions,” he said.

Lawler briefly mentioned where he stood on cuts to Medicaid, a federal program that covers almost 80 million people. “That is an area where I’ve been very clear with leadership and the president that I will not vote to cut benefits for eligible recipients,” he said. The proposed $880 billion cut to Medicaid, if passed, will be the largest Medicaid cut in history.

Lawler’s next scheduled town halls will be in June in both Putnam and Dutchess counties.

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