Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sunday declined to say whether he would support defunding the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, even as some Democrats have said the agency should be abolished because of the role it plays in apprehending illegal immigrants.
Candidates like former “Sex and the City” star Cynthia Nixon, who is running to replace New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and recently called ICE a “terrorist organization,” say the agency should be abolished after implementing the Trump administration’s policy to separate undocumented migrant children from their families.
Recommended Stories
When asked whether he would support such a move, Sanders deflected and said Congress should pass legislation to deal with immigration “in a rational way.”
“A rational way is not locking children up in detention centers or separating them from their mothers,” Sanders, an independent lawmaker from Vermont who caucuses with Democrats, said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “What we need is trump to sit down with members of Congress and work on a rational program which deals with a serious issue.”
Our Revolution, a national political group spurred by Sanders’ presidential run, endorsed Nixon in her campaign as a more progressive alternative to Cuomo.
Congress hiked funding for ICE by ten percent to $7.4 billion in fiscal year 2018. Sanders voted against that appropriations bill.
