After the Trump Administration’s “Zero Tolerance” policy which called for the separation of migrant children from their parents upon apprehension at the southern U.S. border, there have been increasing calls including by a senior U.S. Senator, for the abolition of DHS’ Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Calls for the abolition of ICE went on overdrive when a previously little known Progressive Democrat Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez scored a stunning upset victory in the NY14 Democratic primary, unseating the 4th ranking Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives. Ocassio-Cortez made abolishing ICE the central theme of her campaign, so naturally her stunning upset win has been read by many to mean there is groundswell support among grassroots Democrats for the abolition of ICE
Left out of the ICE abolition debate however is what Yours Truly believes should be the real reason ICE should either be abolished or severely investigated;–That ICE which most Americans associate with going after people in the U.S. illegally, is now also terrorizing legal permanent residents (green card holders) and naturalizedĀ U.S. citizens with illegal surveillance for their political statements on social media(Twitter, Facebook). Even more troubling is that these outright unconstitutional practices by ICE(First Amendment violations) have been widely reported in the media yet Congress remains silent. The troubling practices at DHS-ICE have been likened to the infamous “Cointelpro” tactics employed by the FBI in the 1960s to target black civil rights activists.
To be very clear, Yours Truly is not saying the evil child separation policy of the Trump Admin is not reason enough for Dems to call for the abolition of ICE. What Yours Truly is suggesting is that Congressional Dems, especially Senators need to start hammering DHS/ICE over its unconstitutional surveillance of legal permanent residents and naturalized citizens for their political speech and then add the evil child separation policy as the reason the agency needs to be abolished. Put another way, Dems should argue that ICE is already flagrantly and routinely violating the constitutional rights of permanent residents and naturalized citizens, and that this coupled with the evil child separation policy, should be sufficient grounds for its abolition–the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back.
Bottomline the real atrocities at ICE have not yet been exposed enough to convince the public that time has come to disband the agency. Dems will be better advised to first push for hearings/investigation into ICE’s unconstitutional practices towards legal permanent residents and naturalized citizens and then call for its abolition for the evil child separation policy. When the truth about ICE’s illegal practices are finally put on full display to the public,Ā abolition will be a very easy sell.
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