Days after a stunning primary victory by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in New York’s 14th Congressional District, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed on to the 28-year-old Democrat’s signature issue of abolishing the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), calling the agency “divisive.”
Mr. de Blasio shared his thoughts Friday on the growing political movement on Twitter.
Every country needs reasonable law enforcement on their borders. ICE is not reasonable law enforcement. ICE is broken, it’s divisive and it should be abolished.
— Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) June 29, 2018
Several prominent Democrats have called for the enforcement agency to be scrapped after outrage broke out over President Trump’s zero-tolerance immigration policies.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Democrat, has also signaled her support for ending the agency, tweeting:
I believe we need to protect families who need help, and ICE isn’t doing that. It has become a deportation force. We need to separate immigration issues from criminal justice. We need to abolish ICE, start over and build something that actually works. https://t.co/JtSN68k4Fd
— Kirsten Gillibrand (@SenGillibrand) June 29, 2018
Actress and liberal activist Cynthia Nixon, who is challenging incumbent Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the September Democratic gubernatorial primary, has previously denounced ICE as a “terrorist organization,” and called for it to be dismantled.
For his part, Rep. Mark Pocan, Wisconsin Democrat, announced on Monday that he would propose legislation to officially dismantle the agency.
On Thursday, nearly 600 people were arrested during the “Women Disobey” protest in the Hart Senate Building, to protest family separation and ICE.
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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