Steny Hoyer: ‘ICE is an Absolutely Essential Agency’

Democrat House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-MD) came out in support of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency Monday, calling it an “absolutely essential” part of the United States government just “like the IRS.”

In a conversation with Fox News’ Neil Cavuto, Hoyer set himself aside from people on the left who want open borders, saying Democrats such as himself and Senate Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) do care about legal immigration.

“Some suggested eliminating ICE as an organization. I was not for that,” Hoyer said. “The Speaker was not for that clearly. We’re going to have immigrants, we’re going to have customs. We need enforcement.”

The congressman said he hopes Democrats and Republicans will “reach an agreement soon,” adding another government shutdown should not be an option. He said like President Donald Trump, he cares about border security, but he disagrees that a wall needs to be built to keep illegal immigrants out of the country.

“We think you need personnel, you need infrastructure, you need technology. We were just at the border. Clearly those are all necessary,” said Hoyer, adding his problem with the President’s approach is that he “way, way overstates” the criminal element to illegal immigration.

“We ought not to have these roundups,” he said, of people who are in the country illegally.

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