Rashida Tlaib: ‘We Didn’t Have ICE Years Ago Before 9/11 … We Were Fine’

From the Gaily Baller:

Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida Tlaib unpacked her anti-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) stance and said the U.S. was “fine” without ICE pre-9/11 during a podcast released Tuesday. 

“It needs to be completely dismantled. We didn’t have ICE years ago before 9/11, and I can tell you we were fine,” Tlaib said on an episode of “Authentically Detroit.” 

ICE was created in 2003 after the now-defunct Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) was dissolved and its duties transferred to three entities, including ICE, under the newly created Department of Homeland Security (DHS). INS conducted raids. 

“We had Border Patrol. We had all those. I want people to appreciate between that, unpackage that. This is a new agency that came about afterwards. It’s important to know that. This is not the border patrol in the field. … This is a different agency that is very, in some cases, rogue,” said Tlaib, who is the first Palestinian-American woman to serve in Congress.