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The awould ligs of i.c.e. in maryland ben jealous won and in new york city where alexandria o koes toshio cortez, let's start look if we could. this is the big story about this young woman in new york city, younger than 30, going up against this incumbent who had a senior leadership position in the democratic caucus. what's your takeaway from that victory? >> a couple of things, you don't want to overstate the national significance of one district in new york city but at the same time, i think there's a recognition that there's a sort of earthquake here that has happened and already people who...

There's a desire to do something, i think on part of many lawmakers in light of what we've seen, you have the call there. what's the rationale behind it when you look at lawmakers calling for this. why are they saying this needs to happen? >> well, i mean, one reason they are doing this, they are echoing what they are hearing from their constituents across the country. we had a lot of protests this week. if you look in the crowds at the protests, you saw people holding signs calling for i.c.e. to be abolished. and basically when it comes to actually what this would look like and what sort of p...

Enforcement and cyber crimes and counter terrorism things like that. so they think it would be a step too far to go forward with something that would abolish i.c.e. you see the president already taking advantage of it for political purposes. i'll read a quick line from the talking points here. it says abolishing i.c.e. without changing the disastrous immigration policies will not solve the problem of the that's from the congressional hispanic caucus. you're seeing a divide within the democratic party on this issue. >> let me turn to you and ask about the case that those who are advocating for ...

The last many weeks in him or his engagement with the issue. he tweeted he wasn't backing either of the two bills even though he did back one of the two bills. what level of engagement does the president have with this issue at this point. how much has this backlash led to him becoming more engaged with it perhaps? >> well, i mean, immigration has always been a big issue for the president. i mean, it's something that he talked about when he was announcing that he was running for office several years ago. and it's something that he always kind of keeps going back to when he needs to get his bas...

Separation of children with their families there's question how the outrage will lead to change in policy. talk a bit if you would about how this focus on i.c.e. has come about? >> well, look, i think a lot of it is meant to rev up the baes, the democratic base ahead of the mid-term elections and maybe even looking farther beyond that to the 2020 presidential election. you sigh many of these potential contenders like kamal aharris and elizabeth warren saying the agency should be abolished outright and you're seeing a xis m is notable. we've reported at the daily beast that the congressional hi...