Ryan: Dems trying to abolish ICE have ‘jumped the sharks’

Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) bashed House and Senate Democrats calling for the abolishment of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), saying they have “really jumped the sharks.”

“They have really jumped the sharks on the left. … It’s amazing,” Ryan told reporters at his weekly news conference in the Capitol. “You want to abolish the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement? This is the agency that gets gangs out of our communities, that helps prevent drugs from flowing into our schools, that rescues people from human trafficking.”

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Abolishing ICE is an extreme position, Ryan argued, and is one that will scare voters away in the November midterm elections.

“They want to get rid of this agency? It’s the craziest position I’ve ever seen and they are tripping over themselves to move too far to the left,” Ryan said. “They are out of the mainstream of the America, and that’s one of the reasons why I feel very good about this fall.”

Self-described democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who upset Rep. Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) in a Democratic primary last month, was one of the first politicians to call for ICE to be scrapped. A number of possible 2020 Democratic presidential contenders, including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Cory Booker (N.J.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), quickly followed suit. 

On Thursday, Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wis.), a progressive leader who’s being encouraged to run for leadership, rolled out a bill to shut down ICE and form a bipartisan group to come up with a replacement for the 15-year-old agency.