Gallego: President Trump, Republicans need to care for ‘legacy’ after ICE mishandlings

PHOENIX — The deaths of two people in Minnesota at the hands of federal immigration agents have garnered national uproar over the past few weeks.

U.S. Sen. Ruben Gallego of Arizona said President Donald Trump and Republicans can “look out for their own legacy” by doing something simple: admitting things have gone too far.

“The president, first of all, can step up and show leadership,” Gallego told KTAR News’ Outspoken with Bruce & Gaydos on Monday. “And by showing that, I think he’s going to get a lot of credit. If he steps up and says, ‘What we’ve seen is too far, too much. We need to be able to do enforcement while at the same time respecting people’s individual rights.’

“I think he’d actually get a lot of kudos (for that).”

The former U.S. Marine said “a lot” of his Republican constituents are not OK with how Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is continuing to be careless with its operations. They need to bring their concerns to Republican leaders next, Gallego added.

“The next step is, will they join us to go to Republican leadership because they’re in charge and say, ‘Hey, let’s slow this down. Let’s figure out how to keep the rest of the government open, making sure that flights take off, the FBI’s funded, all these other things.’ But let’s see what we can actually bring some sanity down to ICE and to, again, professionalize our immigration enforcement,” Gallego said.

Gallego had previously said he will not be “voting to give whatever ICE has become more taxpayer money” after the agency asserted power to forcibly enter homes without a judge’s warrant. He backed this up by saying he will “hold up funding as long as I can” to see if there can be a compromise with Republicans.

Ruben Gallego’s proposal for how to rebuild ICE

Gallego believes that part of the changes should be decreasing the number of ICE agents and requiring those who are agents to have more training as well as follow the Constitution, such as having warrants.

“We don’t have to accept that everything that’s happening right now is the way it should go in the future,” Gallego said.

The senator added that in order to earn the trust of the community, policing and law enforcement have to be done in a professional manner.

“What you’re seeing now is people pushing back because most humans, especially Americans, don’t like being oppressed,” Gallego said. “They don’t like being pushed, and they don’t like feeling the federal government on top of them.”

KTAR News’ Kylie Werner contributed to this report.

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