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Sen. Bernie Sanders also demanded āfundamental reformsā to Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection, saying they are āterrorizingā 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 Millerāa key architect of Donald Trumpās violent mass deportation campaignāas 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 ādomestic military forceā that is āterrorizingā communities across the country. The senator pointed specifically to the agencyās ongoing activities in Minnesota and Maine, where officers have committed horrificāand deadlyāabuses.
Sanders said that ānot another penny should be givenā to ICE or Customs and Border Protection (CBP) āunless there are fundamental reforms in how those agencies functionāand until there is new leadership at the Department of Homeland Security and among those who run our immigration policy.ā 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.