Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D., N.Y.) on Monday said that the Department of Homeland Security should not oversee immigration, claiming that it's "not a security issue."
During a MSNBC town hall in Auburn Hills, Michigan, Gillibrand was asked what she will do as president to help uphold policies that will help "enshrine asylum seekers and refugees and give them the opportunity to practice their right to seek asylum."
"Our country was largely founded by immigrants and largely built by immigrants. Our diversity has always been our strength. It's what creates entrepreneurialism and innovation all across America for our entire history and in our best moments we have not been afraid of immigrants. In our worst moments, we have," Gillibrand said.
She went on to slam President Donald Trump for his immigration policies, calling it an "outrage" that for-profit prisons are locking up immigrants and separating children from their mothers.
"I would get rid of all of that. It should not be under Homeland Security. Immigration is not a security issue. It is an economic and a humanitarian and a family issue," Gillibrand said.
Gillibrand has repeatedly voiced her frustrations with Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, because she believes "you should separate out the criminal justice from the immigration issues," saying that it has become a "deportation force."
"I think you should reimagine ICE under a new agency with a very different mission, and take those two missions out," said Gillibrand back in September.