Eleanor Clift Blasts Trump Administration’s Planned ICE Round-Ups as Inflicting ‘Terrorism’ on Immigrant Communities
Liberal commentator Eleanor Clift blasted the Trump administration’s upcoming immigrant family round-ups on MSNBC’s The Beat with Ari Melber, saying the ICE campaign to conduct mass arrests and deportation was “chilling” and “inflicting…terrorism on communities.”
Clift was reacting to news reports that ICE would begin making broad sweeps this coming weekend in 10 US cities, in an effort to arrest and deport thousands of undocumented immigrants, even if that meant breaking up families. President Donald Trump stunned DHS officials last week when he previewed this operation in a tweet where he claimed “millions of illegal aliens” will be removed from the country.
Speaking with Melber, Clift distinguished between the immigration policies of President Barack Obama, who deported more undocumented aliens than any previous president, and those of Trump.
“Every president inherits the problems left over from the previous administration and this president has taken these kind of chronic problems at the southern border with, with Iran, and he’s made them worse,” Clift said. “The numbers are up of people trying to come into this country. The cruelty is up. President Obama, yes, he targeted people who had felonies. He didn’t go after hard working families and try to break them. What this administration is putting out today, ordering roundups can of thousands of people, is chilling. It’s inflicting, it’s terrorism on communities.”
Melber, clearly taken aback, broke in: “That’s a strong word, you view it that way?”
Clift, nodding, continued: “Terror is when you create fear among people. I think it’s an appropriate use of the word.” She went to suggest that some law enforcement agencies around the country could passively resist being accomplices to such a deportation operation.
“I think you’re going to see law enforcement not necessarily just line up with the president on this, that there is no such thing as an official sanctuary city. But there are law enforcement people everywhere who regard the immigrants in their midst as people they want to protect,” she said. “So there could be some clashes here. I just don’t, we’re in a country where you’re rounding up people. The language is chilling. And he’s doing it because he won election that way. And this is — he thinks in terms of TV episodes and you’ve got to — it’s you’ve got to up all the confrontations.”
Watch the video above, via MSNBC.
