(AFP) – A man dressed as Batman berated officials in the California city set to host the Super Bowl next month over claims they could let ICE officers patrol the NFL championship game. The Caped Crusader took to the mic during the public comments section of Santa Clara city’s council meeting on Tuesday. He kicked things off with a “Ker-pow!” any superhero would be proud of, dropping an f-bomb as he slammed his fist into the lectern and demanded, “What… are we doing here?”
“You have had months to prepare for this upcoming event,” he said of the game that will see the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks battle it out for American football supremacy on February 8. “People are dying on our streets every single day in this country because we allow this federal government to walk all over you.” The outburst came with tensions running high in the United States over the deaths this month of two protesters in Minneapolis, both shot dead by federal agents in operations run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol.
“You need to affirm that no city resources will go to ICE, that no cooperation will be given to them.” The man’s real name was not known, but he was identified as “Batman” on the clock counting down his speaking time. Santa Clara City did not immediately respond to an AFP request for comment.
The involvement of ICE in Super Bowl 60 emerged as an issue when Corey Lewandowski, an adviser at the Department of Homeland Security, criticized the choice of Puerto Rican superstar Bad Bunny—a US citizen—as the star of the halftime show. “It’s so shameful that they’ve decided to pick somebody who just seems to hate America so much,” Lewandowski said in September. “There is nowhere that you can provide safe haven to people in this country illegally,” he added. “Not the Super Bowl and nowhere else.” Tickets for the gridiron finale start at around $6,000, making them out of reach for the vast majority of undocumented people, who tend to work in low-paying jobs.
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