Sen. Sherrod Brown gives royalties to far-left group whose director wants to abolish ICE, defund police

Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) has given book royalties for nearly two decades to a group whose “far-left” director has pushed for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and defunding police departments.

Brown, 70, has contributed royalties from his 2004 book “Myths of Free Trade” to Cleveland Jobs with Justice (CLEJWJ), according to his Senate financial disclosures.

Cleveland Jobs with Justice is part of a national pro-union coalition that has partnered with the Democratic Socialists of America, among other organizations.

CLEJWJ Director Deb Kline, a self-described “far-left progressive activist,” has posted on social media in favor of abolishing ICE. For the three years following the summer 2020 riots in US cities, Kline has been part of a Facebook group with a stated commitment to “defund police.”

“I am: union proud; passionate about and fully support immigrant rights; and a registered democrat [sic] who leans so far to the left, I almost fall over,” Kline said on Facebook in 2020.

The year after Brown’s 2006 election to the Senate, the lawmaker hired John Ryan, a founding member and former director of Cleveland Jobs with Justice as state director, a position Ryan has held ever since.

Kline succeeded Ryan as head of the group.

In 2013, Kline was arrested for joining 100 women and illegal immigrants in setting up a human barrier between House office buildings and the US Capitol to call for immigration reform, according to the group’s website.

Jobs with Justice recently promoted a “No Tech for Apartheid Campaign” by Amazon and Google employees, who said Israel’s government was to blame for the Oct. 7 terrorist attack carried out by Hamas.

“We refuse to create tech tools for the Israeli military and government to continue surveilling, segregating and killing Palestinians — tools that have powered the system of racial domination and brutal military occupation that have led us to this moment of violence,” their statement reads.

“As workers, we refuse to be complicit in ethnic cleansing.”

Jobs With Justice has also expressed solidarity with the Movement for Black Lives and encouraged the defunding of police, as well as protested alongside the DSA, which has urged its members to partner with the union advocacy group.

Days after Hamas’ brutal onslaught, DSA members participated in an antisemitic rally in Times Square, in which protesters stomped on and burned an Israeli flag and one attendee held up an image of a swastika on his cellphone.

Brown, who is currently serving his third term in the Senate, is running for re-election in one of the most competitive national races next year, with three GOP challengers already declared.

Two of those candidates — Ohio State Sen. Matt Dolan and Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose — have both narrowly edged out Brown in polls this year, according to the FiveThirtyEight average, but the Democratic senator has held a double-digit lead in the most recent surveys.

Entrepreneur Bernie Moreno is also looking to unseat Brown in 2024 but has yet to beat him in an Ohio Senate poll.

Reps for Brown’s campaign and Senate office did not respond to requests for comment.