CNN: Democrat Mandela Barnes Supported Abolishing ICE, Which Contradicts Campaign Ad

Democrat Mandela Barnes’s pro-Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) claims in a recent TV ad contradict his previous pro-abolish ICE position, CNN acknowledged Friday.

While Breitbart News has reported since August that Barnes had advocated for abolishing ICE, CNN finally reported the Wisconsin Democrat Senate candidate had “liked” anti-ICE tweets on Twitter. CNN even reported Barnes attended an “Abolish ICE” rally.

The report comes on the same day Barnes will debate Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) at 8PM EST. Barnes will likely face questions from Johnson as to why he ran a television spot claiming he did not want to “abolish ICE” after attending an anti-ICE rally.

“Look, we knew the other side would make up lies about me to scare you. Now they’re claiming I want to defund the police and abolish ICE. That’s a lie.” says Barnes in the ad:

So-called independent fact checkers have claimed that Barnes does not support abolishing ICE, but CNN’s report contradict the “fact checks.”

Andrew Kaczynski and Em Steck reported the specifics:

He liked one September 2018 tweet that used the “#AbolishICE” hashtag and compared the agency to “modern day slave catchers.” His Twitter account also liked other tweets calling for abolishing ICE twice in July 2018 and twice in June.

“Imagine a world without ICE,” read one of the tweets liked by Barnes.

Barnes also once solicited an “Abolish ICE” T-shirt on Twitter in 2018 writing, “I need that,” when offered the Democratic Socialists of America-branded shirt. A photo of Barnes holding a similar shirt later circulated on social media. Barnes told the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, which first reported on the shirt, he was not part of the abolish ICE movement saying “no one slogan can capture all the work we have to do.”

The issue of abolishing ICE comes at a time when illegal immigration is reaching record numbers under Democrat rule. August was the fifth month in a row in which migrant apprehensions exceeded 180,000 migrants.

Moreover, Democrat policies have led to almost 2 million migrant encounters by the border patrol, a 20 percent increase since fiscal year 2021. Border patrol apprehended a then-record-setting 1.6 million migrants in 2021. Many of those encountered at the border have been released into the interior. Some have been sent to Florida on more than 70 different planes.

Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.