Hill.TV host Krystal Ball said on Monday that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was not solely to blame for the country’s immigration woes amid calls from Democrats to abolish the government agency.
“You do need someone to perform some deportations in the country. The problem is not ICE, and the problem is not the workers at ICE, which I also have a big problem with when we go into demonizing the people who work there,” Ball told co-host Buck Sexton on “Rising.”
“The problem is President Trump. The problem is Jeff Sessions. The problem is Steve Bannon. The problem is Stephen Miller. The problem is the policies that have led to, and I agree with Dick Durbin here, ICE focusing more on toddlers than on terrorists. That is where the resources have gone,” she continued.
Ball’s comments come as a slew of Democratic lawmakers and congressional candidates call for the agency’s abolishment, which appears to have become a litmus test for Democrats.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Thursday became the first sitting senator to call for ICE to be done away with, saying it should be “reimagined.”
“Let’s just say, she has jumped on the whatever the left-leaning of the moment is,” Ball said.
Democratic congressional candidates, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have also called for the agency’s elimination.
“I do think this is a marker that is being laid down, and whoever wants to run to the left and be the Bernie Sanders of the next presidential election, I think they are going to get on board with this,” Ball said.
— Julia Manchester
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