Posted on 07/10/2018 3:38:52 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
Senate Democratic candidates are breaking with progressives who are calling for the abolishment of ICE.
The push to nix Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has gained steam among the party’s resurgent liberal base in response President Trump’s immigration policies that led to the separation of thousands of immigrant families along the U.S.-Mexico border.
House candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez brought the issue into the national spotlight with her shocking defeat of Rep. Joseph Crowley (D) in last month’s New York primary. And some of the party’s 2020 presidential hopefuls, including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.) and Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), have rallied behind the effort to dismantle ICE.
But Democratic candidates locked in tight races that will likely determine which party controls the Senate next year are stopping short of embracing the idea as they try to win over moderate voters.
“No, I don’t think we should,” Sen. Bill Nelson (Fla.), a vulnerable Democrat seeking reelection, said on Monday when asked if he agreed with calls to abolish ICE.
And it’s not just Senate incumbents who are unwilling to commit to scrapping the agency.
Rep. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), a progressive lawmaker hoping to defeat Sen. Dean Heller (R), isn’t endorsing the push to abolish ICE.
When asked about the issue on Monday, a spokeswoman for her campaign pointed to a recent CNN interview, where Rosen said ICE “does a lot of other things people don’t realize,” and Congress should instead “ask the president to stop his reckless and harmful policies right now.”
A spokesperson for Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.), who’s running to fill the seat being vacated by GOP Sen. Jeff Flake, didn’t respond to a request for comment on Monday. But the Democratic Senate hopeful told an Arizona TV station last week that getting rid of ICE “isn’t realistic and doesn’t make sense.”
Rep. Beto O’Rourke (D-Texas), who will face off against Sen. Ted Cruz (R), has gone against the grain. He’s expressed a willingness to consider abolishing ICE.
“If it’s reorganizing the Department of Homeland Security and changing the functions of ICE, having greater accountability, abolishing that agency altogether, that’s fine,” he told a Texas radio station. “But there will still have to be enforcement of our immigration laws in this country.”
Those comments follow an interaction with O’Rourke at an event last week at which a woman told him ICE is a “terroristic organization” and compared it to the “Gestapo.”
ETC...
This ‘absolish ICE’ topic was probably one of the most stupid strategies for a political campaign that I’ve seen in forty years.
Democrats ARE the Left.
“Democrats ARE the Left.”
I think the Democrats currently in office are more just opportunists. They were surprised and taken aback by the sudden leftward lurch of their various pet grievance groups. Some, like Elisabeth Warren, tried to jump even further left so they could pretend to be leaders. Others in vulnerable districts and states won by Trump, are trying to find a middle ground, for example, “Let’s not get rid of ICE, but just change how it operates.” They are attempting to please the base and not frighten left of center and middle of the range voters. I suspect that many of the Democrats in office now are not so much idealists as political chameleons who change color to blend in with what they perceive their constituents want.
Now let’s turn their wacky base on them.
It was a knee-jerk, grassroots, social media driven 'movement driven by street thugs.
It caught the Democrat leadership by surprise who now have to react.
The left wing fringe is wagging the dog.
Kinda like a whoops....we shouldn’t have said that. Too late...These negatives will take them down.
Yes but after they are elected they will do just as the other shiite eating democrats do. Vote to dismantle America as we know it.
While our pubbies are crony capitalists in conservative clothing, the dems are street looters dressed as Bolsheviks
“the dems are street looters dressed as Bolsheviks”
Victor Hansen said that as the Democrats get more crazy-left (my words) the average Democrats leave the party. So, now the crazy-left can get their candidates nominated.
Hopefully, the candidates will be so crazy left they can’t be elected.
They pulled it to deflect attention from the federal agency that REALLY needs abolished.
I think we are seeing something special with abolishing ICE. Not only has the left been fully exposed, but also the Democrats of the Uniparty.
In my humblest of opinions, I think we are witnessing a third political party forming. They are going to call it something stupid like the VOR(Voice of Reason) party and it’s going to be the grownups(I tossed a softball here) of the rat party along with the RINO’s of the Republican party.
This moderate party will have one simple agenda and that will be to bring us back to what they will perceive as the middle.
I must reiterate the already identified problem with the Uni-Parties lukewarm platform.
What "they" perceive as "the middle"......
they are lying, it’s just like Pelosi saying to stop talking about impeachment, but you know that is exactly what they have in mind if they win the house in Nov. The dems are smart enough to realize that the majority of people don’t want the country put thru an impeachment, and they also know that the majority don’t want to see ICE abolished or “reimagined”.
Never ever believe RATS. You will get rabies.
Do NOT trust Jacky Rosen.
She is hand picked & groomed by Dirty Harry Reid,
Democrats break with the left?
More likely; Democrats Lie top the public (again).
How long can the press stand by and allow these Cretins to pretend not to be hard left and still wonder why the are referred to as Fake News!
Nice tap dancing by Beto! lol
Ha! Well put.
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