Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D., Mass.) became the second Democratic senator on Saturday to join the calls for abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, also known as ICE. During an immigration rally in Boston, Warren said it was time to replace ICE with something that reflects the morality of the country.
"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.
There is a growing movement among liberals and progressives to abolish ICE. Warren joins her Democratic colleague and potential 2020 opponent Sen. Kristen Gillibrand (D., N.Y.), who called for ICE to disband and referred to the agency as a "deportation force." Cynthia Nixon, who is challenging New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo in the Democratic primary, called ICE a "terrorist organization" and said it should be abolished. Other progressive candidates and activists have adopted the call as part of their platform amid the controversy of the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy on illegal immigration.
Warren continued to slam President Donald Trump and said his administration is treating refugees like terrorists.
"President Trump seems to think that the only way to have immigration rule is to rip parents from their family, is to treat rape victims and refugees like terrorists and to put children in cages," she continued. "This is ugly and this is wrong and this is not the way to run our country."
ICE is under the Department of Homeland Security and has been criticized by Democrats for managing the Trump administration's zero tolerance policy. Rep. Mark Pocan (D., Wis.) introduced legislation that would abolish the agency. Other Democratic senators, including Sen. Kamala Harris (D., Calif.), have indicated an openness to abolishing ICE and starting from scratch but have been hesitant to fully embrace the idea.