On Friday’s broadcast of “CNN News Central,” Denver Mayor Mike Johnston stated that ICE “should restrict their focus to partnering with local law enforcement on those folks who are here illegally who have committed violent crimes. That’s what ICE was designed to do. That’s what we would partner in helping them do now. But what they shouldn’t be doing is terrorizing neighborhoods for residents who are nonviolent.”
Co-host Erica Hill asked, “Quickly, before I let you go, some Democratic lawmakers, as I know you’re aware, have called for ICE to be abolished. Do you support that?”
Johnston answered, “I think there can be a role for appropriate enforcement of civil immigration and appropriate enforcement of folks who are in the country illegally and have committed violent crimes. We work right now to identify anyone who’s committed violent crimes. We detain them. We arrest them. We partner with federal agencies to deport them. Those are violent criminals. That’s where we should focus. What we don’t need to spend time doing is focusing on picking up five-year-olds in the school drop-off line or taking grandmothers out of church pews or picking up single moms when they come off their shift at Target. That is not a safety threat in this country. We should focus on where the actual safety threats are, which are violent criminals. That’s what we’ve done in Denver. That’s what we’ll keep doing.”
Hill followed up, “So, just pinning you down on that question, you don’t believe ICE should be abolished wholesale? Are you saying there’s just room for, perhaps, some changes?”
Johnston responded, “Yeah, I think they should restrict their focus to partnering with local law enforcement on those folks who are here illegally who have committed violent crimes. That’s what ICE was designed to do. That’s what we would partner in helping them do now. But what they shouldn’t be doing is terrorizing neighborhoods for residents who are nonviolent.”
Johnston also stated that ICE officers have made the cities they’re in less safe.
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