Progressive strategist Christy Setzer said Friday that Americans have “come to see” Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as President Trump’s “personal deportation force” amid the ongoing national debate on immigration.
“ICE, I think people have started to come to see as Donald Trump’s personal deportation force, and not just about what’s happening on the border, but also in small towns and cities across America that are being terrorized by these ICE agents coming in making raids at, say, a meat-packing plant, or a nursery, or wherever where you’re going to have people with potentially questionable immigration status,” Setzer told Hill TV’s Buck Sexton and Krystal Ball on “Rising.”
Setzer’s comments come after Republican House leaders announced on Thursday that they would bring a Democratic measure calling for the abolishment of the government agency to a vote, daring liberal lawmakers to back it.
The legislation would launch a commission to examine ICE’s responsibilities and then recommend transferring them to other agencies.
However, Democratic lawmakers said they would vote ‘no’ on the measure, though they welcomed the opportunity for debate.
An increasing number of Democrats have called for the agency to be abolished in recent days amid the ongoing migrant crisis at the U.S. southern border.
Critics of the government agency say it’s become “militarized” in its approach to deportations.
Republicans view the growing calls to abolish ICE as a politically helpful to them ahead of the midterm elections in November.
— Julia Manchester
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