Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) appears to have backed off her calls to abolish Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, saying at a debate last week that she wanted to see it "reformed."
Warren joined other top Senate Democrats in calling for ICE's abolishment this summer after a torrent of criticism regarding its enforcement of Trump administration border policies. Warren's 2018 opponent, Republican State Rep. Geoff Diehl, challenged her on the stance, saying Friday that ICE should be allowed to do its job of apprehending criminals.
"They're the ones that are keeping our streets safe, but you want to get rid of that agency wholesale," Diehl said.
"I want to this agency reformed, because an agency that can't tell the difference in the risk between a 7-year-old girl, between a woman going in for brain cancer surgery, and a terrorist or a criminal, is an agency that is not working," Warren said. "It is not making us safer, and it sure doesn't reflect our values."
Warren said in June that ICE needed to be replaced.
"The president's deeply immoral actions have made it obvious we need to rebuild our immigration system from top to bottom starting by replacing ICE with something that reflects our morality and that works," Warren said during a rally in Boston.
Warren holds a comfortable lead in polling over Diehl, although she hit a speed bump last week with the poorly received release of DNA test results showing she was potentially between 1/64th and 1/1,024th Native American.
Although the DNA test was an attempt to stave off criticism of her unproven claims of Native American lineage, conservatives mocked the results, and Native Americans and progressives slammed her for the move, with some saying using a DNA test was inappropriate and harmful to indigenous peoples.