Cynthia Nixon, the former “Sex and the City” star who’s running for governor of New York, slammed President Trump on Thursday over his “zero tolerance” immigration policy, which has led to detained families being separated at the U.S.-Mexico border.
Nixon, who is challenging Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the state’s Democratic primary, told “The View” that she was glad the president signed an executive order “against himself,” adding that she hoped he would extend the order to protect all Americans from his policies.
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“It’s devastating, the images from the border and I have to say, the recordings of the children begging for their parents,” she told ABC.
“I am glad [Pres. Trump] has signed this executive order against himself, protecting them from him. I wish he would sign some more executive orders protecting all of us from him,” Nixon added, to laughs and applause.
Nixon’s comments came after Trump signed an executive order at the White House on Wednesday that mandated an end to the separation of families, allowing them to instead be detained together.
Nixon continued in the interview to push for the full abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), which she blames for separating families across the country.
“Families aren’t just being separated at the border, they’re being separated throughout this country by ICE. I think we need to abolish ICE, that seems really clear,” she said.
“ICE is relatively new, it came in after September 11th,” she added. “We’ve been handling immigration and customs for a long time here, we don’t need ICE.”
Trump’s decision on Wednesday came after intense criticism over the family separations, which he had earlier falsely claimed could not be stopped with an executive order. He also falsely blamed Democrats for the practice.
Nixon currently trails Cuomo by double digits, according to a RealClearPolitics poll roundup. In May, she picked up an endorsement from the left-leaning news website Daily Kos, about a month after she was endorsed by the progressive New York Working Families Party.