Sen. Bernie Sanders also demanded “fundamental reforms” to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, saying they are “terrorizing” US communities.
US Sen. Bernie Sanders on Wednesday demanded the removal of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller—a key architect of Donald Trump’s violent mass deportation campaign—as well as concrete reforms in exchange for any new funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
In remarks on the Senate floor, Sanders (I-Vt.) called ICE a “domestic military force” that is “terrorizing” communities across the country. The senator pointed specifically to the agency’s ongoing activities in Minnesota and Maine, where officers have committed horrific—and deadly—abuses.
Sanders said that “not another penny should be given” to ICE or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) “unless there are fundamental reforms in how those agencies function—and until there is new leadership at the Department of Homeland Security and among those who run our immigration policy.” The senator has proposed repealing a $75 billion ICE funding boost that the GOP approved last summer, an end to warrantless arrests, the unmasking of ICE and CBP agents, and more.
That might be necessary but customs and immigration systems are still required in some form.
This country already has agencies that actually do that work. ICE is specifically a law enforcement agency that does nothing but round people up for civil immigration infractions, that is literally all they do. Customs is handled by US Customs and Border Patrol and Immigration is handled by the US Citizenship and Immigration Service. These are existing agencies that have been around for more than a century doing this work.
ICE was created in 2003 specifically to be a goon squad to hassle immigrants. That is all that its for.
It’s not only ICE, though. Border Control is working with them. It’s 2 different agencies that are equally guilty.
Border patrol are the guys actually shooting people.