I traveled twice to Manchester today. The first to stand in solidarity with a person from South Sudan who ICE is trying to deport and the second time to attend a candidate forum at the Manchester City Library. You can see some of what I said here.

ICE is not a broken agency that needs fixing. It is an agency whose design produces the outcomes we are now witnessing. When an institution is built to enforce a broken system without due process protections, without meaningful accountability, and with a culture that has consistently shielded agents from consequences for misconduct and killing, reform is insufficient. The institution must be replaced.

Abolishing ICE means replacing a failed institution with one that is built from the ground up with civil rights protections, democratic accountability, and a mission that’s oriented toward a functional immigration system rather than fear and punishment.

I am hoping that our town will come together today to affirm that our community does not want to collaborate with the Trump Administration in its unlawful and immoral immigration crackdown here in Hampton.

Good riddance.

This victory shows the power of a mobilized and unified community that not only opposes the reprehensible actions of ICE and DHS, but also envisions and fights for a more just immigration system.

The clock is ticking. The longer politicians in Washington wait to fix our broken immigration system and force ICE, CBP, and Kristi Noem to face real accountability, the more emboldened DHS becomes in its efforts to trample over our rights and terrorize innocent people.