California Democrat appears to call to defund ICE, restart it from scratch
California Democratic Rep. Juan Vargas called to defund the Department of Homeland Security for the actions of ICE.
Defunding law enforcement became a popular rallying cry for Democrats after the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd in 2020. While many Democrats since then have tried to distance themselves and the party from such rhetoric, others appear to be pushing forward when it comes to defunding ICE.
The death of Renee Good in Minneapolis by an ICE officer amid immigration raids has sparked nationwide protests and some riots. According to the DHS, the federal agent who fatally shot Good suffered internal bleeding to his torso when he was struck by her vehicle. Political podcaster Kate Powell spoke to Vargas about the unfolding controversy on her show this week in an episode titled, "Impeaching Noem."
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"So, I'm going to do everything I can along with my colleagues here to try to get her impeached and removed," Vargas said of Secretary of the DHS Kristi Noem’s leadership. "She has violated the law, she has allowed everyone in ICE and also these other agencies to violate the law, and she not only encourages it, she applauds it."
He went on to say that he sees America, ideally, as more like Renee Good, as in "kind, good" and "trying to help other people."
Powell later in the podcast said that she was shocked at how money is being appropriated for body cameras for DHS agents, arguing instead that, ideally, "we don't give more money to an agency that's being run like this, 100%. You know what? Kick her out, and then we'll talk about more money for you."
"Well, they shouldn’t have more money at all," Vargas said. "In fact, the agency shouldn’t continue as it is. They really have to drastically — and we’re going to fight for that — we’re fighting to drastically reduce the amount of money so they only go after murderers and they only go after rapists."
He continued, saying, "I mean, come on, what they’re doing is they’re attacking families and I have to tell you, I mean, I look at what's happening in Minnesota and I think, look at all these innocent people that are out there protesting that are out there putting themselves on the line, saying, you know, what we see is wrong, what we see is evil, and we're not going to allow our society to – how can we give more money, you know, to a group that's doing that? I mean we can't. That’s criminal on our part if we do that."