Posted on 07/13/2018 8:24:08 PM PDT by yesthatjallen
Former Attorney General Eric Holder said Friday that the growing calls from Democrats to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are a "gift" to Republicans.
"I don’t think that substantively or politically that makes a great deal of sense," Holder, who served under former President Obama, told host Chuck Todd on MSNBC's "MTP Daily."
“In some ways, you're giving the Republicans a gift by saying we're going to have a debate now about whether ICE Should be abolished."
Holder's comments come as many Democratic lawmakers have voiced opposition to the agency in light of President Trump's "zero tolerance" immigration policy that led to thousands of migrant families being separated at the southern border.
Earlier this week, a group of Democratic lawmakers introduced legislation that would eliminate the agency. House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) responded by confirming a time for a vote on the bill.
Democratic Reps. Mark Pocan (Wis.), Pramila Jayapal (Wash.) and Adriano Espaillat (N.Y.) accused GOP leaders of attempting to exploit the legislation for political gain, saying they would vote against the measure if it was brought to the House floor.
"We know Speaker Ryan is not serious about passing our 'Establishing a Humane Immigration Enforcement System Act,' so members of Congress, advocacy groups, and impacted communities will not engage in this political stunt," the Democrats said in a joint statement on Thursday, adding that they welcome an opportunity for a debate about the legislation.
Republicans are hoping to force Democratic lawmakers running in swing districts in the November midterm elections into making a difficult vote on the agency.
Holder told MSNBC that a debate on ICE moves away the focus from reunifying the thousands of migrant families separated at the border.
"The focus ought to be on what this administration did to those children,” Holder said.
What Obama and everyone else did before him as well—and that Trump will correct. Trump may be holding the bag, but it has Obama's and many other administrations' fingerprints all over it that everyone can see.
They all passed the buck. Trump will take action.
“Holder, who served under former President Obama”
Yes, he did.
The GOP has enough RINOs to vote left so they better not push this bill.
Democrats have made it clear that if they ever retake power they’re going to throw open the borders and let everybody in.
So was “Fast and Furious” Eric.
Anytime a Democrat says what he really believes, it’s a gift to Republicans.
So is calling everyone a deplorable and a racist every 5 minutes. And not having any ideas is also a gift to Republicans.
Shush!
This is probably the first time he said something I can agree with.
“We know Speaker Ryan is not serious about passing our ‘Establishing a Humane Immigration Enforcement System Act,’ so members of Congress, advocacy groups, and impacted communities will not engage in this political stunt,”
...
Aren’t they the ones who created this political stunt in the first place?
“The GOP has enough RINOs to vote left so they better not push this bill.”
i’ll bet you $100.00 that not a single GOP House member will vote to abolish ICE ...
“Anytime a Democrat says what he really believes, it’s a gift to Republicans.”
so true. and yet, for the last 50 years the Dems have had sufficient party discipline to enforce their facade of reasonableness and pretend-concern for the blue-collar working man so that they were able to consistently fool millions of American voters year after year, decade after decade ...
However, their virulent hatred of Trump and those of us who voted him into office has shattered all of their historical norms of subterfuge, and their screams of rage have sent their masks of deceit crashing down, exposing their extraordinarily radical agenda of dismantling our institutions of Constitutional law, freedom of speech, and the unprecedented economic engines that have made America the world’s exemplar for achieving scientific and technological advances that heretofore could hardly even be imagined ... and all of this is yet another aspect of the Trump Effect ..
Heh, heh, heh, the Democrats eating their own...More popcorn!
Well said. Well said Indeed.
L
80% of Republicans support ICE
73% of independents support ICE
60% of Democrats support ICE
There is a reason why Chuck Schumer, the leader of the Senate Democrats and probably the face of the party nationally right now, hasn't jumped on-board the crazy train despite being from one of the bluest states in the country. It's an idea that is relegated to deep blue state/district Democrats and 2020 presidential wannabes (Warren; Kamala Harris) looking for brownie points with the base, and who'll undoubtedly distance from it in a national general election should they become the Democrat's presidential nominee. "Well, look, I didn't entirely mean that, I just mean we should, um, check ICE's priorities... yeah, that's it."
Personally, I see ICE as the left's version of 'abolish the IRS,' something the base supports but will never get majority support in Congress anytime in the foreseeable future.
That would be suicide, even for stupid Rino’s. They aren’t the ones behind this.
If you’d written the bill to say abolishing ICE and IRS...I think some folks would have sat there and thought about the idea an awful lot. But they’d never go that far.
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