Dem Rep. Robert Garcia: Giving More Money to ICE Means ‘Just’ ‘More Terror’ 

On Thursday’s edition of NBC’s “Meet the Press Now,” Rep. Robert Garcia (D-CA) stated that giving more money to ICE means “more terror in our communities.”

Host Gabe Gutierrez asked, “I want to switch now to the topic of immigration. Republicans, a lot of them, have been presenting what’s in this bill as a national security issue. And according to a recent NBC News poll, about 51% of Americans do approve of President Trump’s handling of the border and immigration. That’s an NBC News/Decision Desk poll. Is that something that you and Democrats really want to be against?”

Garcia responded, “Well, look, I’ve seen, obviously, some polls where the President’s also underwater on immigration issues. But, at the end of the day, what this bill also does is it supercharges ICE. It doubles, essentially, the funding. And, look, if you take the budgets of, like, the FBI, for example, and other agencies, just take the intelligence agencies, and you combine them all together, that budget is actually now going to be less than the new budget for ICE is going to be. So, the idea ICE is going to have more resources than the FBI is crazy. And why? So we can deport and arrest people without criminal records? So we can deport United States citizens? So we can ensure, what, that people don’t have due process in this country so that Donald Trump can implement his immigration agenda? I think it’s really shameful that we’re in this direction, and in a moment where we know that about 60% of folks that are being apprehended have not been convicted of anything, actually, I think to give ICE more money is just being more terror in our communities.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett