Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: ‘ICE Is a Dangerous Agency’

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) launched a tweet storm on Saturday, calling the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agency “dangerous.”

Ocasio-Cortez, who defeated incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley (D-NY) in the 2018 Democratic Primary because she promised to abolish ICE, blasted the agency in a series of Saturday morning tweets:

If you’re mad that I think people SHOULD KNOW when Dems vote to expand ICE powers, then be mad.

ICE is a dangerous agency with 0 accountability, widespread reporting of rape, abuse of power, + children dying in DHS custody.

Having a D next to your name doesn’t make that right.

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) March 2, 2019

Ocasio-Cortez’s tweets were referring to Democrats who voted to support a provision under a Republican-supported amendment on background checks that would report to ICE “undocumented immigrants who try to buy guns.”

The self-described Democratic Socialist’s comments came after she gave a recent speech railing against federal immigration laws and calling for abolishing ICE.

“[ICE] do not deserve a dime until they can prove that they are honoring human rights, until they can make a good faith effort to expand and embrace immigrants … Until they can prove good faith to an American ideal, they do not deserve any resources for their radical agenda,” Ocasio-Cortez said.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) and Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) backed Ocasio-Cortez’s calls for abolishing the agency.