President Trump is predicting that Democrats throwing their support behind calls to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) will face blowback at the polls.
“Well I hope they keep thinking about it, because they’re going to get beaten so badly,” Trump told Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo in an interview excerpt released Saturday.
“You know ICE, these are the guys that go in and take MS-13, and they take them out. Because they’re much tougher than MS-13, like by a factor of 10,” Trump said, referring to the international gang.
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“And these are the ones — you get rid of ICE, you’re going to have a country that you’re going to be afraid to walk out of your house.”
Calls to abolish ICE had previously been limited to certain groups on the left, but the idea has gained traction among mainstream Democrats in recent days and has quickly become a de facto litmus test of a politician’s progressive chops.
The movement comes amid backlash over the administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy, with lawmakers pushing for the administration to quickly reunite the thousands of migrant children separated from their parents who face prosecution for illegally crossing the border.
Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Thursday became the first senator to call for the scrapping of ICE, on the grounds that it has become “a deportation force.”
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio (D) continued on Friday, saying, “We should abolish ICE.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) joined the chorus of ICE critics on Saturday, calling for “replacing ICE” while slamming the White House’s “ugly” immigration practices.
Democratic socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who defeated longtime Democratic Rep. Joseph Crowley (N.Y.) in a stunning primary upset on Tuesday, had made the position of abolishing ICE a staple of her upstart campaign.
Earlier on Saturday morning, Trump addressed growing calls to abolish ICE in a pair of tweets, saying they had “zero chance.”
“The Democrats are making a strong push to abolish ICE, one of the smartest, toughest and most spirited law enforcement groups of men and women that I have ever seen. I have watched ICE liberate towns from the grasp of MS-13 & clean out the toughest of situations. They are great!” he tweeted.
“To the great and brave men and women of ICE, do not worry or lose your spirit.” he wrote in a follow-up tweet.