Thursday on CNN’s “News Central,” Tina Smith (D-MN) said Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was so corrupt it must “be torn down to the studs” and reorganized.
Smith said, “I want ICE out of Minnesota. It is so clear to me that their presence on the streets of my state is making are making people less safe, not more safe. And it’s really important for Americans and Minnesotans to understand that Minnesota law enforcement and our prison system are county jails, cooperate with federal officials all the time. If we have somebody who is in the country illegally and they have committed a crime, it is standard practice to hold that, to hand that individual over to federal immigration authorities when they are released from prison.”
Host Boris Sanchez asked, “Are you in favor of abolishing ICE?”
Smith said, “I think that what we need to do is to start over with ICE. I think that, of course, we need, customs and border enforcement but this agency has become so corrupted it needs we need to tear it down to the studs, and we need to start over. And, you know, this agency has been in place for about 22 years. There is clearly something that has gone terribly awry with it. It is awash in funding. It is categorically denying people’s, civil rights and constitutional rights. And I think it should be torn down to the studs and we need to start over.”
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