Washington lawmakers have joined the call to either abolish or change the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, more commonly referred to as ICE. But now the White House’s Twitter account is singling and calling out senators who have called to abolish or change ICE on Twitter.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a Senate candidate who beat incumbent Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley, ran on a platform to abolish the immigration enforcement agency, and other lawmakers have joined her call, including Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), CNN reports.
In a Facebook post on Saturday, Warren wrote, “The President’s deeply immoral actions have made it obvious that we need to rebuild our immigration system from top to bottom, starting by replacing ICE with something that reflects our values.”
Sen. Kamala Harris of California has called to bring about changes to ICE.
“I think there’s no question that we’ve got to critically re-examine ICE and its role and the way that it is being administered and the work it is doing,” Harris told MSNBC. “And we need to probably think about starting from scratch.”
But on Monday, the White House Twitter account called out Warren and Harris for their stance on ICE, and accused them of supporting unlawful activities and the MS-13 gang.
“.@SenWarren, why are you supporting criminals moving weapons, drugs, and victims across our nation’s borders? You must not know what ICE really does,” the White House Twitter account posted, including a link to ICE’s Border Enforcement Security Task Force (BEST).
.@SenWarren, why are you supporting criminals moving weapons, drugs, and victims across our nation’s borders? You must not know what ICE really does. Here is a link to help you out: https://t.co/5CiTKkIs4c
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 2, 2018
The White House Twitter account also singled out Harris, writing, “.@SenKamalaHarris, why are you supporting the animals of MS-13? You must not know what ICE really does.” The post also included a link to a press release to ICE deporting a Salvadoran MS-13 affiliate, as well as an Irish national.
.@SenKamalaHarris, why are you supporting the animals of MS-13? You must not know what ICE really does. Here is a link to help you out: https://t.co/kcrNj4aVMU
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) July 2, 2018
The use of the White House’s official Twitter account to call out senators raised some eyebrows.
“Taxpayer resources are being used to completely and 100% lie about a sitting senator,” tweeted Lily Adams, Harris’ communications director.
Taxpayer resources are being used to completely and 100% lie about a sitting senator. https://t.co/2z14VhPN93
— Lily Adams (@adamslily) July 2, 2018
Harris fired back at the White House on Twitter, writing, “As a career prosecutor, I actually went after gangs and transnational criminal organizations. That’s being a leader on public safety. What is not, is ripping babies from their mothers.”
As a career prosecutor, I actually went after gangs and transnational criminal organizations. That’s being a leader on public safety. What is not, is ripping babies from their mothers. pic.twitter.com/WyyHU3U7jE
— Kamala Harris (@KamalaHarris) July 2, 2018
Senators have called for ICE to be abolished or changed after the Trump administration put the zero tolerance policy into effect, separating immigrant children from their families, as the parents faced criminal prosecution and immigration proceedings.
Last month, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to keep the families together.