Pennsylvania Democratic candidate pauses when asked who replaces ICE

Pennsylvania Democratic congressional candidate Dr. Ala Stanford paused during a live television interview when asked who should enforce U.S. immigration laws if Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was abolished. 

Stanford made the remarks during a Friday interview with NBC Philadelphia reporter Lauren Mayk while discussing her campaign for Pennsylvania’s 3rd Congressional District.

As Mayk pressed Stanford to identify who would take over immigration enforcement responsibilities, the candidate stopped to gather her thoughts before answering.

“It’s a good question, and you can pause because I just want to think about it for a minute,” Stanford said.

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After Mayk said they “need to continue” with the interview and did not have time to pause, Stanford failed to name a federal agency or law enforcement body that would replace ICE but said authority should shift away from the White House.

“Not the executive branch,” Stanford said. “So, not the president. So, it belongs with Congress.”

She then expanded her criticism of the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement, accusing it and President Donald Trump of acting for political reasons rather than public safety.

“It belongs with Congress because the executive branch, and specifically the president, is self-serving and many of the decisions that he is making is not about the American people, is not about our safety,” Stanford said.

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Mayk followed up by noting that immigration laws and border enforcement would still exist even if ICE were dismantled, again asking who would handle those responsibilities on the ground.

“But who should be on the ground enforcing?” Mayk asked. “I mean there are immigration laws absolutely in this country and a border. If it’s not ICE, if you’ve abolished ICE, who handles it?”

Stanford said any new system would need to be built after ICE is dismantled.

“So you can’t — once you abolish, you have to rebuild,” she said. “We’re at a point where you can’t reform something that is a paramilitary organization that is taking human life.”

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Stanford also suggested the ICE name itself carries too much negative baggage to survive any reorganization.

“I’m saying that I wouldn’t even use that. I think at this point the connotation of that word is so negative that you would need a new name,” she said.

Stanford argued the United States should combine border security with humanitarian assistance for migrants.

“People who come to this country add value and diversify and have helped build the United States,” she said. “When they’re fleeing to come to the United States, it’s supposed to be a sanctuary, not a living hell.”

Stanford said she would rely on experts to determine how a replacement system should function.

“I would put the subject-matter experts around me who are more knowledgeable in this space to say how do we not repeat the errors of the past,” she said.

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Stanford is running for the Philadelphia-based seat being vacated by Rep. Dwight Evans. Because the district strongly favors Democrats, the primary contest is expected to determine the next member of Congress.