Chelsea Manning unveils Senate platform: ‘Abolish’ ICE, Border Patrol

Senate hopeful Chelsea Manning said she’ll work to abolish federal immigrations and customs agencies if successful in her bid to unseat U.S. Sen. Ben Cardin, Maryland Democrat.

Ms. Manning, the former Army intelligence analyst convicted of leaking classified documents to the WikiLeaks website, listed eliminating both the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) as top priorities on her platform unveiled Thursday.

“We believe the solution to the so called ’immigration’ issue, which amounts to nothing more than justification for ethnic cleansing in America, is not to reform but to abolish I.C.E.,” reads a portion of Ms. Manning’s newly launched Senate campaign website.

“History has proven that border walls will inevitably be used to keep people in as much as they’re used to keep people out. We need to tear down the border walls. We need to abolish the C.B.P.,” added Ms. Manning, 30.

Other issues touted as part of Ms. Manning’s campaign platform include creating a universal single payer healthcare program, establishing a Universal Basic Income, eradicating the existing prison system, and demilitarizing and disbanding police forces, among others.

Ms. Manning was convicted and sentenced in 2013 to 35 years behind bars for crimes related to supplying WikiLeaks with U.S. State and Defense Department documents obtained while serving as an Army intelligence analyst, but she was released early in 2017 after the bulk of her sentence was commuted during the final days of the Obama administration.

Ms. Manning filed paperwork with the U.S. Federal Election Commission in January declaring herself as a Democratic candidate in November’s race vying against opponents including the incumbent, Mr. Cardin, 74, the former ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

Mr. Cardin’s office did not immediately return messages seeking comment.

Maryland’s primary elections will be held on Tuesday, June 26.