Cotton on ICE: ‘I Don’t Think We Should Pull Back on Any Kind of Enforcement at All’

During Sunday’s broadcast of CBS’s “Face the Nation,” Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) dismissed calls to “pull back” on immigration enforcement, regardless of the impact on the economy.

“On immigration, the Trump administration has decided to pull back its policy a little bit,” host Margaret Brennan said. “They are pausing raids on farms, hotels and restaurants. Arkansas has a lot of agricultural business in your state. Do you support this decision?

Cotton replied, “I think we need to have robust worksite enforcement. I don’t think ICE is going to show up at one or two restaurants where they have an illegal migrant working. Usually, it’s unscrupulous employers who have large numbers of illegal immigrants working in their worksites. And whatever worksite it is, whatever industry it is, ICE has to be able to go and enforce our immigration laws and remove illegal immigrants.”

“But the president has pulled back from that,” Brennan interjected. “That was the change in policy last week when it came to farms, in particular.”

“I don’t think we should pull back on any kind of enforcement at all,” Cotton said. “I think worksite enforcement in all industries needs to be able to move forward. And I think ICE agents on the front lines need the support of political leadership.”

Brennan said, “You would want more enforcement, including in manufacturing, including in construction, where it could impact the economy?”

Cotton responded, “We should not declare any industry or any worksite that uses large numbers of illegal immigrants off-limits for enforcement of federal law.”

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