ICYMI: ICE needs ‘melting,’ says Democratic House hopeful critical of immigration agency
Another recruitment fail for the DCCC.
An environmental extremist who supports defunding law enforcement isn’t going to go over well in New Mexico’s 2nd District!
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ICE needs ‘melting,’ says Democratic House hopeful critical of immigration agency
Washington Examiner
Emily Brooks
February 14, 2022
The top Democratic candidate in a swing House district along the U.S.-Mexico border has been highly critical of immigration enforcement agencies, saying in the past that Immigration and Customs Enforcement needs “melting” and charging that it and Customs and Border Protection has “no regard” for immigrants’ “humanity.”
Gabe Vasquez, a former city councilor in Las Cruces, New Mexico, is challenging Republican Rep. Yvette Herrell for the 2nd Congressional District seat that stretches in the southern part of the state from Texas to Arizona along the border. With the only other Democrat in the race past a key candidate filing deadline being a political unknown, Vasquez will likely be the Democratic nominee for one of his party’s prime pickup opportunities.
Democrats in swing district races often temper their political rhetoric, but Vasquez has displayed hallmarks of progressive philosophy on immigration, law enforcement, climate, and energy policies.
In a November 2020 response to a story about abolishing ICE as a way to fund a “Green New Deal,” Vasquez tweeted: “The only ICE we need to be melting.”
Vasquez was also highly critical of ICE and CBP in a June 2020 tweet, saying that they are “disappearing mothers, fathers, children, with no regard to their value or contributions to their communities. Certainly no regard for their humanity.”
Vasquez has a personal connection to immigration policy. In campaign materials, he highlights being a first-generation American who has lived on both sides of the border and has seen the value of cross-border communities. He has called for a pathway to citizenship for the estimated 11 million undocumented immigrants in the United States.
In other tweets, Vasquez has shown an outspoken progressive streak on policing and race. He has called to “deconstruct and rebuild the systems of oppression that keep black people in perpetual harm” and said that failure to convict former President Donald Trump on impeachment charges reflected “deeply rooted white supremacy in this country.”
The wide divide between Vasquez and Herrell on immigration and Republicans’ midterm elections focus on an immigration surge at the southern border could turn the race into a showdown on immigration and the border.
In a press conference for House Republicans last month marking the Biden administration’s one-year mark, Herrell quipped that “gas prices are higher than the wall.”
“We have a border that’s wide open,” Herrell said. “We have a moral responsibility to finish this wall, to ensure the health, safety, and welfare of our families, our communities, and our first responders.”
Herrell was elected to the rural New Mexico district in 2020 after winning a rematch election against Democratic Rep. Xochitl Torres Small. Torres Small had narrowly won the seat in 2018, flipping it from longtime Republican control despite Trump winning the district by 10 points in 2016, according to Daily Kos Elections.
With redistricting, though, Democrats hope that adjusting the district lines to include Democratic areas around Albuquerque blocks Republicans from keeping the district in 2022 despite analysts forecasting a favorable year for Republicans. New lines moved the district from favoring Republicans by 14 points to favoring Democrats by 4 points, according to FiveThirtyEight. The New Mexico Republican Party last month filed a lawsuit challenging the map.
The map gives Vasquez a good shot at making it to Congress in 2023. His endorsements include Democratic Sen. Martin Heinrich, northern New Mexico Rep. Teresa Leger Fernandez, and a slew of Democratic state representatives and local officials.
Vasquez and Herrell also differ starkly on energy policy. Herrell strongly opposed President Joe Biden’s freeze on oil and gas leases, a booming industry in New Mexico, while Vasquez supported it.
In an interview with local Albuquerque outlet The Paper, Vasquez argued that existing leases in New Mexico could “keep the oil and gas industry going for the next 10 to 15 years” and asserted that those in the industry in the state “need to be prioritized when it comes to transitioning to clean and renewable energy.”
The Vasquez campaign did not return a request for comment.