INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Sen. Todd Young said calls to abolish or heavily reform ICE are premature while investigations are still underway.
The funding package President Donald Trump signed on Tuesday evening funds the Department of Homeland Security through next Friday.
Democrats, including Indiana Congressman André Carson, have vowed to block further funding unless significant reforms are made to how the federal government enforces immigration laws.
The Department of Homeland Security is the parent agency of Immigration and Customs Enforcement as well as Customs and Border Protection, which includes the U.S. Border Patrol. Democrats’ demands follow the fatal shootings last month of Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis by an ICE agent and a Border Patrol agent, respectively.
In an interview with News 8 for All INdiana Politics, Young said Congress already has funded body cameras for federal law enforcement officers. He said he agrees with President Trump’s decision to replace on-the-ground leadership in Minneapolis with his border czar, Tom Homan. Homan has already sent home 700 of the 3,000 federal agents that had been deployed to the city.
“Among the many suggestions that (Democrats) put forward are some, I am told, will jeopardize public safety and undermine the safety of ICE officers,” he said. “And they’re carrying out an important mission to carry out the laws of the land and try to send back to their home country some of our most violent criminals, and we can’t undermine that.”
Young has called for a full and transparent investigation into the fatal shootings in Minneapolis. He said the heads of all of the major immigration enforcement agencies, as well as Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem should testify before Congress. After that, he said Congress should make changes based on those findings.
Young also responded to President Trump’s demand that Republicans nationalize federal elections.
Article 1, Section 4 of the U.S. Constitution clearly reserves to the states the authority to conduct Congressional elections. Young said he does not believe elections should be run nationally.
“I trust Hoosiers to hold free and fair elections. We’ve consistently, in my lifetime, done a very good job of that,” he said. “One of the best safety measures we have to ensure free and fair elections is to delegate the administration responsibilities for those elections to the states. And I still support that.”
All INdiana Politics airs at 9:30 a.m. Sunday on WISH-TV.
