On Wednesday’s edition of NBC’s “Meet the Press NOW,” U.S. Senate candidate Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton (D) advocated for abolishing ICE and said that “what does not work — and I don’t think anyone would say it does — is criminalizing our immigrant neighbors. That’s unacceptable,” and “when you put ICE under DHS, you already start thinking about our immigrant communities through that punitive lens. And that, in and of itself, is not something that’s going to really focus on how we provide support and really get people on a path to citizenship.”
Host Kristen Welker asked, “You say ICE should be abolished. Are you concerned that your position is actually farther than the party wants to go on ICE?” Stratton answered, “Well, I always look at what we have witnessed right here in the city of Chicago with Operation Midway Blitz. Remember, we have a president who said that he was going to go after the worst of the worst, and what we saw was tamale vendors being snatched off the street, daycare providers being stuffed into unmarked vehicles by masked agents, with no due process, no warrants, and the terror of Operation Midway Blitz continues in the city of Chicago and the state of Illinois. And what people really want is they want to know that there’s going to be some accountability, and I’ve made it clear that I don’t think that this agency can be reformed. We need to do something different, we need to take a holistic approach at how to get people a true path to legal citizenship, how we can invest in immigration judges and social services and community-based resources. But what does not work — and I don’t think anyone would say it does — is criminalizing our immigrant neighbors. That’s unacceptable, and I’ve made it clear that ICE and CBP [need] to get out of American cities. And, in Illinois, we’re going to make sure that we hold these bad actors accountable.”
