Ahead of Monday night’s debate, the National Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Council endorsed Republican nominee Donald Trump and “urged all Americans, especially the millions of lawful immigrants living within our country, to support Donald J. Trump, and to protect American jobs, wages and lives.”
The National ICE Council represents the nation’s approximately roughly 5,000 frontline ICE officers, agents, and personnel who are responsible for enforcing America’s immigration laws in all 50 states and U.S. territories. This endorsement marks the ICE Council’s first-ever endorsement of any candidate for any elected office.
In a statement announcing the endorsement, ICE Council President Chris Crane warned against Hillary Clinton’s “radical plan” of “total amnesty plus open borders” that “would result in the loss of innocent American lives, mass victimization and death for many attempting to immigrate to the United States, the total gutting of interior enforcement, the handcuffing of ICE officers, and uncontrollable flood of illegal immigrants across U.S. borders.”
“Let us be clear,” Crane wrote, “the non-enforcement agenda of this Administration, favored by Secretary Clinton, results in the daily loss of life and victimization of many, to include not only American citizens, but also those attempting to immigrate to our country. These victims will never have their photos shown on TV, but their families’ suffering is no less real.”
Crane’s full statement on behalf of the National ICE Council can be read below:
The men and women of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are the last line of defense for American communities. Our 5,000 officers, underfunded and undermanned, are responsible for enforcing immigration laws in a nation of 320 million people. Our officers come into daily contact with many of the most dangerous people in the world – cartel members, gang members, weapons traffickers, murder suspects, drug dealers, suspects of violent assault – yet ICE Officers are unable to arrest or are forced to release many of the most dangerous back into U.S. communities due to unscrupulous political agendas and corrupt leaders. The unconstitutional executive orders of President Obama, embraced by Hillary Clinton, have forced our officers to violate their oaths to uphold the law and placed every person living in America at risk – including increased risk of terrorism. Our officers are prevented from enforcing the most basic immigration laws, including laws against illegal work, illegal entry, illegal overstay and also the public charge law.
This first-ever endorsement was conducted by a vote of our membership, with Hillary Clinton receiving only 5 % of that vote. Hillary Clinton, who has never met with us, and like President Obama probably never would, created her immigration agenda with the same collection of special interests and open-borders radicals who are responsible for our current immigration disaster — all in the name of cheap labor, greed and votes. Let us be clear: the non-enforcement agenda of this Administration, favored by Secretary Clinton, results in the daily loss of life and victimization of many, to include not only American citizens but also those attempting to immigrate to our country. These victims will never have their photos shown on TV, but their families’ suffering is no less real.
By contrast, Donald Trump reached out to us for a meeting, sat down with me to discuss his goals for enforcement, and pledged to support ICE officers, our nation’s laws and our members. In his immigration policy, he has outlined core policies needed to restore immigration security — including support for increased interior enforcement and border security, an end to Sanctuary Cities, an end to catch-and-release, mandatory detainers, and the canceling of executive amnesty and non-enforcement directives.
Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, has promised the most radical immigration agenda proposal in U.S. history. Her radical plan would result in the loss of thousands of innocent American lives, mass victimization and death for many attempting to immigrate to the United States, the total gutting of interior enforcement, the handcuffing of ICE officers, and an uncontrollable flood of illegal immigrants across U.S. borders. She proposes to keep and expand executive amnesty, to expand catch-and-release, to expand President Obama’s non-enforcement priorities to the point where there is virtually no real immigration enforcement or policing of visa overstays, to support Sanctuary Cities, to extend Obamacare to illegal immigrants, to grant amnesty within 100 days, to extend Social Security and Medicare to illegal immigrants through amnesty, plus a 550% increase in the admission of Syrian refugees. Her plan is total amnesty plus open borders.
America has been lied to about every aspect of immigration in the United States. We can fix our broken immigration system, and we can do it in a way that honors America’s legacy as a land of immigrants, but Donald Trump is the only candidate who is willing to put politics aside so that we can achieve that goal. We hereby endorse Donald J. Trump, and urge all Americans, especially the millions of lawful immigrants living within our country, to support Donald J. Trump, and to protect American jobs, wages and lives.