Actress and Democratic New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon labeled U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) a “terrorist organization” and is calling for the agency to be abolished.
Nixon on Thursday night made the comment while speaking on immigration at St. Paul and St. Andrew United Methodist Church in New York City. She was speaking in support of an undocumented Guatemalan mother of two American children who says she fears deportation under the Trump administration.
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“ICE has strayed so far away from its mission,” she said, according to the New York Post. “It is supposed to be here to keep Americans safe but what it has turned into, frankly, is a terrorist organization of its own that is terrorizing people who are coming to this country.”
She later doubled down on the comment in a tweet and launched an “Abolish ICE” petition.
“ICE is a terrorist organization, and its egomaniacal leader is Donald Trump,” she tweeted.
The comments come as the Trump administration faces fierce public backlash for its immigration policies, which have resulted in more than 2,000 migrant children being separated from their parents at the border.
The president on Wednesday signed an executive order to halt family separations, despite repeatedly claiming that only Congress had the power to end the practice.
ICE arrests, including of those with no criminal convictions, have increased dramatically under Trump, as part of his administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigration. Calls to abolish the organization have appeared frequently on social media.
Recent polls have shown the “Sex and the City” actress far behind incumbent Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, but closing the gap.
ICE was established in 2003 under the Department of Homeland Security.