Leonard Amicola of New York’s Croton-on-Hudson was told to remove a pro-Trump flag because it violated the village’s “content-neutral code,” News12 reported.
Amicola said that he has had a Trump flag on his property since 2021, the current of which reads, “Trump is my President.” The flag hung between two trees. Previously, Amicola displayed the flag on a pole, but it was later stolen.
Croton-on-Hudson Mayor Brian Pugh said the are has had a “longstanding prohibition on banners” for all properties, adding that the matter is a “straight forward code enforcement matter, not a free speech issue.”
“We believe that the village’s enforcement action is unfair, that it targets the content of his speech than simply the display,” Amicola’s attorney said. “We feel that his actions are protected under the First Amendment.” His attorney added that the case may be to be brought to federal court.
In an opinion piece for The Croton Chronicle, the Army wrote, “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.”
“People ask me why I don’t surrender and take down my flag,” he wrote. “It is because of the values I learned growing up here in Croton.”
Amicola explained that his father “fled a fascist dictatorship to come to America” and refused to serve in Mussolini’s army. Upon coming to the United States, his father told him, “I am American first, and Italian second,” and served in the U.S. Army during World War II.
