Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., said the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency should be reevaluated “from scratch” following the political fallout of the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy that resulted in family separations at the border.
“I think there’s no question that we’ve got to critically reexamine ICE, and its role, and the way that it is being administered, and the work it is doing,” Harris said during an interview on MSNBC’s “Kasie DC.” “And we need to probably be thinking about starting from scratch because there’s a lot that is wrong with the way that it is conducting itself.”
Harris’ comments, made in an interview broadcast on Sunday, come after New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon this week called for the abolition of ICE, describing it as a “terrorist organization.”
[Opinion: Cynthia Nixon’s ICE opposition only helps Trump 2020]
But Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., on Sunday declined to say whether he would support the defunding of the agency, instead suggesting that Congress pass legislation to deal with immigration “in a rational way.”
Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order that ended the practice of taking children away from parents or guardians accused of entering the U.S. illegally following widespread condemnation.
ICE has become a target for some left-leaning lawmakers and candidates given the perception the agency has adopted heavy-handed tactics to apprehend illegal immigrants under the Trump administration.
