Jake Tapper Confronts Sen. Ruben Gallego Over Past Support For ICE Funding He Now Opposes

CNN host Jake Tapper confronted Democratic Arizona Sen. Ruben Gallego on Sunday over his past support for funding U.S. 🛂Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since he presently opposes law enforcement actions by the agency.

Democrats ramped up their pushback against ICE and its operations following the Jan. 7 shooting of Renee Good, during which she abruptly accelerated her vehicle during a confrontation. While speaking with Gallego on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Tapper noted Gallego previously voted to expand ICE funding and pressed him on his current position as other Democrats, including Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy, have urged the party to not support the budget increase.

“He’s 100 percent right, and I’m talking to him . We cannot vote for anything that actually adds more money and doesn’t constrain ICE. It’s not what we want out of ICE. Again, we want a security force that is focused on targeting and deporting criminals,” Gallego said.

“What they’re doing right now is none of that. What they’re doing right now is actually suppressing U.S. citizens, racially profiling in all parts of our country, bringing violence to areas that you don’t need. You have men with very little training shooting U.S. citizens,” Gallego claimed. “This is not at all what we need. I’m certainly not going to fund something of that nature if it’s only going to cause more and more problems and more harm and less security for Americans and everyday people that are just trying to live their lives.”