Republicans use pro-ICE resolution to squeeze Dems, and Ted Cruz joins in by attacking Beto O'Rourke The family separation crisis prompted calls from some Democrats to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement — pitting them against Republicans eager to seize the opportunity to paint the left as reckless on crime and weak on illegal immigration.
House GOP leaders initially wanted to the idea to eliminate ICE within a year to a floor vote, to force vulnerable Democrats to take a position ahead of the November midterm elections. Instead, they moved ahead with a mere resolution expressing support for ICE. ....
.......Cruz has seized on the issue, accusing him and other Democrats of turning their backs on ICE.......
..........Notably, Cruz has made abolishing a key federal agency a centerpiece of his political career, though his target has been the IRS. And the same criticism leveled at the anti-ICE side has been aimed at him and others pushing to eliminate the nation's tax enforcement agency.
If you abolish it, then what? The important functions these agencies serve don't just disappear.
Cruz and fellow Texan John Cornyn, along with 13 other GOP senators, have introduced a pro-ICE resolution in the Senate similar to the House version. It warns that dismantling the agency would result in "open borders" and "allow dangerous criminal aliens, including violent and ruthless members of the MS-13 gang, to remain in communities in the United States."
The Senate resolution cites the “key role†that ICE plays in combating human trafficking and child sexual exploitation, a point that Cornyn emphasized last week. “They deserve our appreciation and respect, not irresponsible calls to end their important work to keep our communities safe,†he said.........
https://www.dallasnews.com/news/immigration/2018/07/18/political-red-meat-proposals-to-abolish-ice-unrealistic-as-irs
