Dem
47
GOP
53
On Tuesday, after ICE agents killed two more people, "border czar" Tom Homan said ICE would stop using traffic stops to catch immigrants. The heat was apparently too much. Then yesterday, Donald Trump said the opposite: ICE will continue to make traffic stops. In a bleat, he said ICE agents were "doing a GREAT job, one that has to be done." He also said the agents were loved and respected in America. Polling shows the reverse, actually.
Homan seems to have a better political ear than Trump. The shooting in Maine is causing Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) a lot of grief as the Democrats running to replace her are calling her an ICE enabler because she has voted to fund ICE at the current (extraordinary) level. Poorly trained agents continuing the traffic stops are likely to kill more people, causing more political problems, especially among Latino voters. Here is a photo of a protest demonstration in Scarborough, Maine. Protests like this can't be good for Collins' career:
A number of the politicians running for the Democratic senatorial nomination in Maine are calling for ICE to be thoroughly reformed or disbanded. Many of them have noted that although ICE is swimming in money, it apparently can't (or doesn't want to) equip its agents with body cameras.
The Maine killing of Joan Sebastian Guerrero couldn't have come in a worse place or time for the Republicans. It deflects attention from Graham Platner and shifts it to Collins' votes to support ICE. Democrats would love to make the campaign about Collins' support for ICE. She will have a hard time shaking the issue. (V)