SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — Activists hailed the end of a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement operation in Minneapolis as a win for protests and a January general strike, but warned in a letter published Thursday that the fight against federal policies must spread nationwide.

Matt Oill of Schenectady credited mass protests, rapid response efforts and a Jan. 23 general strike with forcing ‘Border Czar’ Tom Homan to announce the conclusion of ICE’s ‘Operation Metro Surge’ last week. ‘Even if every single ICE agent is pulled from Minneapolis, which is unlikely, ICE will simply take their racist reign of terror on the immigrant community elsewhere,’ Oill wrote in the Daily Gazette.

He pushed for building toward a nationwide general strike on May 1, as called by several national labor leaders. Oill suggested workers organize strike actions or mass sickouts with coworkers. Student walkouts, like one at Schenectady High School, could amplify the effort, he added. ‘Only by collectively shutting down business as usual and disrupting the profits of the billionaire class can we stop the attacks on immigrants and the entire working class,’ Oill stated, invoking the labor slogan, ‘An injury to one is an injury to all.’

In a separate letter, Jeffrey Rosenthal, a retired deputy counsel and acting director of the former Governor’s Office of Regulatory Reform, called for its revival to tackle New York’s regulatory burdens. The non-partisan office, created by Executive Order 20 under Gov. George Pataki, reviewed regulations for compliance with state law and to avoid undue costs on small businesses and local governments.

GORR staff attorneys and analysts scrutinized proposed rules and collaborated with agencies and stakeholders, Rosenthal wrote. The office persisted through three Democratic administrations and into the Cuomo era with modifications before lapsing. He referenced a Feb. 14 editorial urging reductions in red tape and overregulation. ‘Perhaps it’s time to re-establish GORR,’ Rosenthal concluded from Amsterdam.

A third letter took aim at recent rhetoric over Saratoga Springs’ water supply. Former Public Works Commissioner Chuck Marshall accused new Commissioner BK Keramati and Gordon Boyd of hyping dangers during an Oct. 7, 2025, City Council meeting, where they called the public water a ‘poisoned mud puddle.’

Marshall said he struggled to reassure his children the water was safe amid such claims. Within a week of taking office, Keramati deemed it ‘perfectly safe,’ according to Marshall. Yet Keramati’s first major move created a ‘Field Manager’ position reporting to the garage rather than the water treatment plant, despite funding shortages that he blamed on the city government form.

Marshall noted Keramati skipped a transition meeting with him, instead consulting former Department of Public Works staff and engineers who were unaware of ongoing efforts to identify new water sources. With pending TTHM sampling likely to show exceedances, Marshall questioned the inconsistency: ‘Is the water a poisoned mud puddle or is it perfectly safe?’ He criticized the language as a campaign tactic, not a path to solutions. ‘Words matter,’ Marshall wrote.

The letters reflect local frustrations with federal immigration tactics, state bureaucracy and municipal leadership transitions in the Capital Region.