President praises ICE as attacks intensify

BRIDGEWATER, N.J. >> President Donald Trump on Saturday opened a new front in the immigration debate, diverting attention away from his administration’s treatment of undocumented immigrants to a broader fight over the federal agency charged with detaining and deporting them.

In a pair of tweets from his private golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, Trump forcefully defended the performance of Immigration and Customs Enforcement and lambasted Democrats as pushing a “radical left” agenda to abolish it, even though only a handful have publicly supported doing so.

“To the great and brave men and women of ICE, do not worry or lose your spirit,” Trump wrote in one tweet. “You are doing a fantastic job of keeping us safe by eradicating the worst criminal elements.”

In an interview on Fox News set to air today, Trump suggested that the issue would hurt Democrats in the midterm elections because ICE helps eradicate violent gangs. Trump’s public support of ICE came as tens of thousands marched in cities across the country to protest a “zero tolerance” policy under which all adults who crossed the border illegally were referred for criminal prosecution, resulting in more than 2,500 children being separated from adult relatives.

“I hope they keep thinking about it because they’re going to get beaten so badly,” he told Maria Bartiromo, host of “Sunday Morning Futures.” “You get rid of ICE, you’re going to have a country that you’re going to be afraid to walk out of your house. I love that issue if they’re going to actually do that.”

Over the past week, several prominent Democrats have proposed eliminating ICE, citing what they say is its unjust treatment of immigrants. Among them were Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the 28-year-old who upset Rep. Joseph Crowley, D-N.Y., in a primary election Tuesday, and Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Though other Democrats, including party leaders in the Senate and House, have not gone that far in their criticism, the debate over ICE has thrust an agency with 20,000 employees into the public spotlight after years of whiplash over the scope of its central mission since its founding in 2003.