Since the election of President Trump, there have been calls on the left to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency tasked with detaining and deporting people who have violated immigration law. Critics argue ICE functions as a modern-day Gestapo, and since it was created less than 20 years ago, it shouldn't be that hard to eliminate now. But others argue the work ICE does is incredibly important to national security; we need to know who is in the country and why. What do you think?
THE VOTES ARE IN!
But others argue ICE has an important role to play in national security. California Sen. Kamala Harris defended ICE in cracking down on undocumented immigrants who commit serious crimes, proclaiming "ICE has a purpose. ICE has a role. ICE should exist."
Kamala Harris defends ICE's existence #AbolishICE pic.twitter.com/QjzI1Nq3n2
— Brett Banditelli (@banditelli) March 9, 2018
And ICE Director Tom Homan says 9 out of 10 people deported do in fact have a criminal record. It seems perfectly reasonable that an agency should exist to get bad people out of the country and monitor those who are here. ICE was created post-9/11 so that authorities would know who was in the country, and expel those who could cause harm. Abolishing ICE is not the answer.
"Let's make something clear: there's no prerequisite that an alien has to commit yet another crime when they get to the United States to have the law enforced upon them," he said.
Homan said "more people will die" trying to come to the United States over the Mexican border if they believe they can reach a state where they will be shielded from deportation.