Former MSNBC anchor Mehdi Hasan urged Democrats to take a stand against what he called President Donald Trump’s “private militia” – U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“If Democrats are serious about stopping fascism, then they have to do everything in their power to prevent the ongoing expansion and further empowerment of Homan and his army of masked ICE thugs,” Hasan wrote Tuesday about Trump’s border czar Tom Homan.
In a stinging op-ed in The Guardian, Hasan argued that ICE has become “a rogue agency” that has set its sights on not just immigrants, but even Democratic elected officials. He cited the Friday arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka by ICE agents while attempting to inspect a privately run detention facility.
“How is this acceptable?” Hasan asked as he laid into Democratic lawmakers.
“Elected Democrats are now under both legal and physical assault from a rogue agency, which behaves less like federal law enforcement and more like Donald Trump’s private militia,” the staunch Trump administration critic wrote Tuesday. “And yet, elected Democrats refuse to call for its abolition. They seem to have decided that the continued existence of ICE is ‘acceptable.’”
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Hasan accused Democrats of pushing away from their past efforts to dismantle ICE.
“How many more abuses of power and violations of the law does ICE have to commit?” Hasan asked as he highlighted a rundown of recent violent apprehensions and warrantless arrests in the last 30 days alone.
Calling ICE a “lawless, violent, deadly, institutionally racist, sexually abusive agency,” Hasan concluded that Democrats have “only one right move” if they “are ever able to win back office.”
“…Politically, financially, and, above all else, morally: abolishing Bush and Trump’s ICE, once and for all.”
