The White House explained what the Immigration and Customs Enforcement is in response to actress Cynthia Nixon’s claim that the law enforcement agency is a “terrorist organization.”
“It’s deeply disturbing that Cynthia Nixon has no clue of what ICE does to protect Americans and New Yorkers every day from dangerous criminals, terrorists, child smugglers, and human traffickers,” White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said in a statement Monday, according to Fox News. “The 9/11 terrorists responsible for the slaughter of 3,000 innocent people were foreign nationals on visas who committed immigration fraud and who should have been deported.”
“ICE was created in the aftermath of that tragedy to help ensure that no similar atrocity would ever strike our nation again,” Gidley added.
Nixon, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate from New York, tweeted ICE is a “terrorist organization” on July 6.
I can think of no better description than to call ICE a terrorist organization, and I will wear any criticism from @mike_pence as a badge of honor.
— Cynthia Nixon (@CynthiaNixon) July 6, 2018
She called for its abolition at St. Paul and St. Andrew Methodist Church in Manhattan on June 21.
“ICE has strayed so far away from its mission. It is supposed to be here to keep Americans safe but what it has turned into frankly is a terrorist organization of its own that is terrorizing people who are coming to this country,” Nixon said.
ICE arrested 40 illegal aliens in New York in June — and nearly 5,000 since September 2016 — on accounts of felony sexual assault, statutory rape, assault, child neglect, DUI, larceny, firearms possession, and domestic abuse, according to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. (RELATED: Ohio Police Arrests Dozen Abolish ICE Protesters For Blocking Street With 32-Foot Tripod Structure)
“It’s especially unfortunate that Nixon, as a New Yorker, not only advocates for the abolition of the very agency that would’ve helped stop 9/11, but also smears and slanders the tireless work carried out by the brave men and women of ICE to keep our country safe,” Gidley said.
Additionally, through Operation Matador, nearly 500 individuals have been arrested for criminal involvement with MS-13 gang members and associates in New York, according to an April press statement from the agency.
Operation Matador is a joint law enforcement initiative made up of ICE, Customs and Border Protection, and local police departments to target MS-13 activity in New York, according to the Center for Immigration Studies.
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