A Democrat stronghold in the New York City suburbs is trying to force a property owner to remove a pro-Trump flag.
Leonard Amicola, a resident of Croton-on-Hudson, has been ticketed and told his “Trump Is My President” flag must be removed because it does not follow the village’s “content-neutral code,” according to News12.
Amicola, a disabled Vietnam veteran who has lived in the village for 67 years, told News12 that he has displayed support for President Donald Trump since 2021. He added that his right to fly the flag is protected by the U.S. Constitution.
“I did at one time have it on the pole, and one night somebody came and took it and it was gone,” said Amicola, who then hung the flag between two trees to lessen the chance of it being swiped.
An Italian immigrant, Amicola said his personal beliefs stem from having a father who “fled a fascist dictatorship [Benito Mussolini] to come to America.”
“My choices and my politics are my own. I don’t always agree with other people’s opinions in Croton but all of us have the right to free speech,” Amicola wrote in an opinion column for the The Croton Chronicle.
“People ask me why I don’t surrender and take down my flag. It is because of the values I learned growing up here in Croton. It is because I am my father’s son.”
Amicola said he has received threats, and there have been “a few circumstances” of rocks being thrown at the flag. He also said many people in the community have been supportive.
Amicola’s attorney, Roseann Schuyler, said the village served her client with a notice of violation about a month and a half ago, before the property owner was served with an appearance ticket from village court charging him with violating the village code.
Both Amicola and Schuyler said he will plead not guilty. The attorney also said this “may be a matter we need to bring to federal court.”
“We believe that the village’s enforcement action is unfair, that it targets the content of his speech rather than simply the display. And we feel that his actions are protected under the First Amendment,” Schuyler told the station.
Newsmax reached out to Croton-on-Hudson Democrat Mayor Brian Pugh for comment on Amicola’s situation.
The mayor told News12 that the issue was a “straightforward code enforcement matter and not a free speech issue.”
Pugh said the village has a content-neutral code that has had a “long-standing prohibition on banners” and is applied to all properties. He added that 17 other properties recently were asked to remove banners that did not adhere to the code.
Croton-on-Hudson supported former President Joe Biden with roughly 71% of the vote in the 2020 presidential election.
The village has more Democrat voters compared to other nearby cities, and leans more Democrat compared to the nation as a whole, according to Best Neighborhood.
Newsmax Wires contributed to this story.
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