Lifestyle entrepreneur and television personality Martha Stewart criticized recent Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity in her hometown of Bedford, New York, saying the situation feels reminiscent of a dystopian regime.
In an interview with USA Today during Super Bowl week in San Francisco, Stewart said she has been troubled by heightened immigration enforcement under President Donald Trump. The remarks came as she appeared at a Pepsi-hosted “Bay Area Local Eats” event tied to the NFL Fan Experience.
“I’m not happy with what’s going on with immigration,” Stewart said. “We got a notice in my town of Bedford, NY, that ICE was in the schools. That’s extremely depressing. And this is a beautiful suburban town, an hour from New York City. It’s crazy. ‘Big Brother’ watching is not an easy way to live.”
It is not clear where the notice came from or who it was from.
Her reference to “Big Brother” appeared to invoke Nineteen Eighty-Four, George Orwell’s novel depicting a totalitarian society under constant government surveillance.
“Feeling a Little Bit Down”
Stewart, who described herself as “an extremely optimistic person,” said the reports of ICE presence in local schools left her unsettled.
“I’m not going to get terribly political and criticize anybody individually,” she added. “America’s a beautiful place, and we have had such a beautiful life here, and we have to continue to have that.”
In a separate social media post, Stewart expressed concern over what she characterized as limits on public demonstrations and federal enforcement tactics.
“I am disheartened and sad each and every day that we cannot demonstrate our sympathy for the beleaguered,” she wrote. “We are told immigrants — which most of us are or descended from — are unwelcome, that we cannot show our frustration in peaceful demonstrations and that we can be attacked and even killed by Federal troops.”
She was likely referring to Alex Pretti or Renee Good, who were killed respectively after carrying a loaded firearm during a confrontation with ICE and accelerating an SUV towards an ICE agent.
Economic Concerns for Local Businesses
Beyond immigration enforcement, Stewart also spoke about economic pressures facing restaurants and small businesses. While praising Pepsi for spotlighting local eateries, she said rising labor, food, and rent costs are squeezing profit margins.
“Everything is extremely expensive,” she said, recounting an example of a restaurant that generated significant revenue on paper but saw little net profit after expenses.
Stewart’s comments come amid ongoing national debate over immigration policy. While she avoided directly attacking specific officials, her remarks add her voice to a growing list of public figures weighing in on the impact of federal immigration operations.
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Martha slipped up but what can anyone expect. She is old as dirt and apparently dumb as dirt. I never watched her much until the one time she was arrested for insider trading even though it was against the law. Then I watched her NEVER. She is an incompetent who obviously listened to the wrong people. And she had some sort of problem with her father figure and was quite proud of it. Loving a parent is okay but her adoration was really odd.
More expensive? Has she looked at the rise in income, the lowering of taxes, the lowering cost of fuel … which lowers the cost of shipping products too, which causes the lower cost of food and other products.
She obviously is not for Americans being able to have the jobs that illegals took from legal Americans.
More illegals getting our tax money for their support ( which raises taxes ), fewer jobs for Americans, more crime, etc. Where does this list end?
But she doesn’t have to worry about that. She’s a wealthy lib.