-Source- The Daily Beast-
The preeminent coalition of Hispanic lawmakers on Capitol Hill is pushing back against mounting calls for abolishing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, arguing that lawmakers should instead focus on broader reforms of American immigration policy.
In a series of talking points being distributed to its members, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus calls the current ICE immigration enforcement regime both “inhumane and harsh.” But the talking points stress that immigration enforcement is just one part of the agency’s portfolio. The others, ranging from “narcotics enforcement, investigating cybercrimes, human smuggling, firearms smuggling and counterterrorism,” were not in question, the document says.
While calling for “increasing transparency and accountability,” the CHC talking points conclude that “abolishing ICE without changing President Trump’s disastrous immigration policy will not solve the problem.”
“It is the agency’s misguided and unfortunate policy priority—which now appears to be based on an effort to deport 11 million people and possibly their 5 million U.S. citizen children that has led to this public outcry,” the talking points read. “The agency’s name or place on the organizational chart doesn’t need to be changed. ICE needs greater oversight and accountability so that we can protect the homeland and better manage our broken immigration system.”
The talking points were passed to The Daily Beast by a congressional source. A top Democratic House aide confirmed the CHC was crafting a document that implicitly rejected calls for abolishing the agency. A source close to the CHC told The Daily Beast that the talking points were put together by caucus staff. The source said they did not constitute a formal position of the caucus. Read more
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