They then argued back and forth about whether Democrats actually want to prosecute crime or illegal crossings or enforce the law on the border at all.
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Nielsen said that under “his exceptional leadership, the men and women of ICE have made significant progress in restoring the rule of law to our immigration system and countering criminals such as human smugglers and those attempting to exploit children”. It’s tempting to wonder whether the recent push on the left to abolish ICE has begun to soften opposition among Democrats and that’s now showing up in the HuffPost data, but there’s a logical problem there – the Harvard-Harris poll was conducted a few days after HuffPost’s was.
“They’re seriously talking about that?” he asked Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo during the July 1 interview on “Sunday Morning Futures”.
Why are Democrats divided about abolishing ICE?
“My priority is to abolish this administration’s policy on immigration that separates parents from children and that denies people coming to this country to seek asylum for domestic abuse or gang violence”, Cardin said.
“We absolutely do need to make sure our borders are secure and have to make sure that people are safe in passage, but what we have to remember is that ICE was established in 2003, right at the same time as the Patriot Act, the AUMF, the Iraq War”, Ocasio-Cortez told CNN on Wednesday, using an abbreviation for the Authorization to Use Military Force.
President Trump has since issued an executive order to stop the separation of families.
Global backlash at the human rights abuses wrought by Trump’s “zero-tolerance” policy also has animated the movement. Liberals have been quick to assure the public that “Abolish ICE” really means reforming immigration enforcement, rather than a call to end the mass criminalization of immigrant communities altogether.
Sanders joins fellow Sens.
Abolishing ICE might be popular among the radical Left, but it is a platform unlikely to win votes among the majority of hard-working Americans.
Other political heavyweights, and possible 2020 presidential contenders are also on board with the #AbolishIce movement. The call to “Abolish ICE” is a call to completely restructure the US’s approach to the social crisis of migration away from the current criminalized and militarized approach.
Is the debate over ICE’s existence worth having?
ICE was created along with the new Department of Homeland Security in 2003 following the September 11 attacks. It employs more than 20,000 people. FAIR believes that immigration reform must enhance national security, improve the economy, protect jobs, preserve our environment, and establish a rule of law that is recognized and enforced.
DeSaulnier, who’s served in Congress since 2015, cited a letter from 19 regional ICE supervisors arguing that the agency’s detention and deportation crackdown have made it more hard for agents to pursue other missions like fighting transnational crime, human trafficking, organized crime and smuggling.
“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”, he said.
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“Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s sudden call for the “abolition of ICE” is a politicized action from a politician whose persona can only be characterized as a ‘wind sock, ‘ shifting with the issues as she needed to for her personal advancement”.
