Democratic New York congressional candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez explained her belief that abolishing the Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency is “common sense” during an interview on CNN with John Berman on Thursday morning.
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“I think now, we’re starting to realize that ICE — part of that suite of legislation has a structure that allows for civil rights and human rights abuses,” Ocasio-Cortez stated. “And, you know, it may seem like a radical position, but I actually think it is very, very common sense. You know, we should not be separating children from their families.”
“We should not be detaining people and violating, you know, one’s rights to due process,” she continued.
Ocasio-Cortez won the Democratic primary for the 14th district of New York, defeating Congressman Joe Crowley. Crowley had been in office since 1999, prior to Tuesday’s defeat.
“We need to remember is that ICE was just established in 2003,” the Democratic nominee added. “We had an immigration system before then. ICE was established with the Patriot Act, with the Iraq war, with AUMF, with DHS. And we look at all that legislation now as a mistake.”
One of Ocasio-Cortez’s campaigners, Thomas Lopez-Pierre, is a known anti-Semite and racist. Lopez-Pierre has regularly used slurs against Jewish people. (RELATED: SOCIALIST DARLING CAUGHT CELEBRATING, CAMPAIGNING WITH KNOWN ANTI-SEMITE AND RACIST)