On Friday, Vice President Mike Pence offered complete support for the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency, after many are calling for abolishment of the agency.
While visiting ICE headquarters with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, Pence said: “We are with you 100 percent. We will always stand proudly with our brave heroes of ICE and the Border Patrol. Under President Trump, we will never abolish ICE.”
Pence’s statements come during a time when the Trump Administration has faced increased scrutiny of its “zero tolerance” border enforcement policy.
Vice President Mike Pence during a visit to ICE headquarters: “We will always stand proudly with our brave heroes of ICE and the Border Patrol.
“Under President Trump, we will never abolish ICE.” https://t.co/u4lrxUcEEO
— USA TODAY (@USATODAY) July 6, 2018
“The calls for abolishing ICE are not only outrageous, they are irresponsible,” the Vice President said.
Increasing public criticism against the agency was even putting officers and their families at risk, Pence added, stressing that the agency was being “attacked and demeaned… at an unprecedented rate,” USA reported.
“These attacks against ICE officers and their families must stop and must stop now,” he said.
Pence specifically quoted Democratic lawmakers, including Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, saying their calls for shuttering the agency are “spurious” and “must stop.”
He said the calls to abolish the 20,000-person agency responsible for apprehending undocumented immigrants in the U.S. have spread far beyond the “radical left.”
“The truth is that opposition of ICE has moved to the center of the Democratic Party itself, just when you thought the Democrats couldn’t move farther to the left,” he said.
New York Democrats Gillibrand and New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio were some of the latest politicians to join the rally against ICE, calling for the agency to be abolished following President Trump’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy.
President Donald Trump last week sent two passionate tweets defending the men and women of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol.
“Every day, the brave men and women of ICE are liberating communities from savage gangs like MS-13. We will NOT stand for these vile Democrat smears in law enforcement. We will always stand proudly with the BRAVE HEROES of ICE and BORDER PATROL,” the President wrote.
Trump had previously tweeted: “A vote for Democrats in November is a vote to let MS-13 run wild in our communities, to let drugs pour into our cities, and to take jobs and benefits away from hardworking Americans. Democrats want anarchy, amnesty and chaos – Republicans want LAW, ORDER and JUSTICE.”
