Malik Williams, a Democratic candidate for a seat in Texas’ state legislature, called for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and for legalizing marijuana during a Tuesday rally for U.S. Senate nominee James Talarico in Lubbock, Texas.
“We can legalize and tax THC and cannabis. We’re gonna abolish ICE, we’re gonna tax the rich and we’re going to get my friend, the next United States senator from the state of Texas, James Talarico, elected!” Williams exclaimed to raucous applause.
Talarico, a Democrat running in a historically Republican state, has shied away from making such direct calls to abolish ICE while on the campaign trail.
During a joint CNN and Jubilee town hall, Talarico directly denied wanting to abolish ICE when asked if he supported the idea.
“No, and I never have,” Talarico responded, adding, “We need Immigration and Customs Enforcement in this country, but that’s not what we’re seeing. What we’ve seen over the last year is a secret police force, and that’s what we don’t want in this country.”
Talarico’s recent remarks, however, depart from past comments. In January, during a primary debate with Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, Talarico said it was time to “tear down” ICE.
“ICE shot a mother in the face. ICE kidnapped a 5-year-old boy. ICE executed a man in broad daylight on our streets just this morning. It’s time to tear down this secret police force and replace it with an agency that actually is going to focus on public safety,” he said.
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Talarico also advocated for “hauling in” agents in front of Congress to testify on actions taken during enforcement actions.
Abolishing ICE is an unpopular opinion among Republicans nationwide, with 67% strongly opposing the idea, according to a July YouGov/The Economist poll. The same poll found 48% of Americans overall supporting ICE’s abolition.
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Texas voters, meanwhile, have a moderately negative view of the agency as a whole. Only 42% of the state views the agency as very favorable or somewhat favorable, compared to 47% of the state viewing ICE as somewhat unfavorable or very unfavorable, according to a February poll from The Texas Politics Project.
In introducing Talarico on Tuesday, Williams also stumped for a wide number of policies popular with the rising crop of democratic socialists while appearing to bash President Donald Trump and Talarico’s Republican opponent Ken Paxton.
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“When we have embarrassing loser representatives that support a fascist, racist, rapist, war criminal, I say we deserve better! When the backbone of Texas, our ranchers and farmers, tell us that they do not want data centers and then our politicians, as they love to do, they force it upon us without consent, I say we deserve better!” Williams exclaimed to fanfare.
Williams also advocated for more education funding, guaranteed childcare and an expansion of healthcare, all popular policies with the Democratic Socialists of America.
The Williams and Paxton campaigns did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital for further comment.
The Talarico campaign pointed Fox News Digital to his comments from the CNN town hall.