Prominent Democrats Now Calling For Abolition of ICE
The agency that oversees immigration has become a lightning rod for Democrats wanting to attack the Trump administration, as top Democrats seeking to appeal to the party’s far-left wing increasingly call for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Although Democrats have rallied around the issue, President Donald Trump said it would ruin the nation and also explode in the faces of Democratic candidates in this fall’s elections.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat who has been mentioned as a possible 2020 presidential candidate, attacked Trump and ICE on Saturday, according to The Hill.
“The president’s deeply immoral actions have made it obvious we need to rebuild our immigration system from top to bottom starting by replacing ICE with something that reflects our morality and that works,” she said.
“President Trump seems to think that the only way to have immigration rule is to rip parents from their family, is to treat rape victims and refugees like terrorists, and to put children in cages,” she said. “And this is not the way to run our country.”
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand on Thursday advocated the abolition of ICE, The Hill reported.
“I believe that it has become a deportation force. And I think you should separate out the criminal justice from the immigration issues,” the New York Democrat said. “I think you should reimagine ICE under a new agency, with a very different mission, and take those two missions out. So we believe that we should protect families that need our help, and that is not what ICE is doing today.”
Calls for abolishing ICE increased after last Tuesday’s Democratic primary victory by New York City’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who made the abolition of ICE one of her stated goals.
Some Democrats have offered a voice of caution.
“We are always going to need immigration enforcement,” Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”
“I think we know that. We are a major country with major borders, so to me, the issue is what are those policies,” the Minnesota Democrat said, Fox News reported.
During a Sunday morning interview on “Sunday Morning Futures,” Trump said Democrats, thinking they have found a perfect midterm elections issue, should think again, Fox News reported.
The Liberal Left, also known as the Democrats, want to get rid of ICE, who do a fantastic job, and want Open Borders. Crime would be rampant and uncontrollable! Make America Great Again
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2018
“Well I hope they keep thinking about it,” Trump said. “Because they’re going to get beaten so badly. You know ICE, these are the guys that go in and take MS-13, and they take them out. Because they’re much tougher than MS-13, like by a factor of 10.
“And these are the ones — you get rid of ICE, you’re going to have a country that you’re going to be afraid to walk out of your house,” Trump said.
“Between Maxine Waters and Nancy Pelosi, and getting rid of ICE and having open borders, and the biggest thing you have open borders. All it’s going to do is lead to massive, massive crime. That’s going to be their platform, open borders which equals crime. I think they’ll never win another election. So I’m actually quite happy about it.”
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