From the Maggie Toulouse Oliver For Senate Campaign:
- Agency Created to Fight Terrorism Now Creates Terror in U.S.
SANTA FE — New Mexico Secretary of State and candidate for U.S. Senate Maggie Toulouse Oliver called today for the federal government to do away with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency saying that it has overstepped its original mission and is actually undermining safety and stability in American communities.
“It’s time to abolish ICE,” Toulouse Oliver said. “ICE was created to stop terrorism and keep Americans safe. As we saw this weekend, though, as millions of people huddled in fear of mass raids, ICE no longer prevents terrorism, instead it creates terror in the United States.”
ICE, formed in 2002 as a response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks, is charged with enforcing customs and immigration laws to prevent terrorist acts and to remove dangerous people from our country. Toulouse Oliver says that ICE has overstepped its mission and that the same functions it’s supposed to perform can be handled by other, more accountable law enforcement agencies. In particular, Toulouse Oliver wants to see ICE’s work on human trafficking handed over the FBI to ensure that those crimes are fully investigated and prosecuted.
“ICE has gone from a strategic agency working to protect all Americans from terrorist attacks on our soil to a veritable secret police agency that raids family homes with impunity, turns the plight of asylum-seekers into Facebook jokes and treats people from other countries as less than human,” she said. “We need professional, well-funded and accountable law enforcement agencies working together to focus on the safety of everyone in our country.”
Toulouse Oliver further supports comprehensive immigration reform, which has so far eluded politicians in Washington.
“I’m not talking about open borders; I’m talking about comprehensive immigration reform that allows for the monitoring of who’s coming and going, but that also creates a clear path to citizenship,” Toulouse Oliver said. “Except for Native Americans, we are all immigrants here. Washington has let us all down by not fixing our broken immigration system. When I’m in the U.S. Senate, I will fight to finally get this job done.”
About Toulouse Oliver From Her Campaign:
Maggie Toulouse Oliver is a progressive trailblazer running to become the first woman elected to the U.S. Senate from New Mexico. Her values are rooted in our state and the life she’s built here. Maggie was a single mom at the age of 24, without healthcare, and a son on Medicaid. She worked her way through college, paycheck-to-paycheck, to build a better life for her family. She’s served as Bernalillo County Clerk and now as Secretary of State where she’s help clean up state government, hold dark-money special interests accountable, and oversee fair elections.
