Susan Collins Stands Up for Homeland Security in Intense Maine Debate: 'You Cannot Abolish ICE'

Republican Senator Susan Collins defended ICE during a heated debate with Troy Jackson, the Democratic challenger for her Maine Senate seat, saying that while she was horrified by some of the organizations actions, it should not be abolished.

"You cannot abolish ICE," Collins declared. "It does need reform. But do you really want to abolish an agency that is responsible for deporting violent criminals?"

The comment came during an October 6 debate in which Collins and Jackson were asked about a wide variety of topics, including the killing of Colombian immigrant Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero by an ICE officer in Biddeford, Maine, earlier this year. Guerrero was in the United States on a work permit and was shot behind the wheel of his car. He was not the individual ICE agents were targeting in the operation.

Jackson, 58, ripped Collins for supporting a measure giving ICE an additional $35 billion in funding.

"You don't put more money into an agency that is killing people across this country," Jackson said.

Collins insisted she was "horrified" by the attack but insisted ICE needed the funding.

Collins, 73, has long been criticized for voicing her disappointment that ICE has not used the funding she approved for reform.

In July, Zeteo reporter Prem Thakkar confronted Collins about Guerrero's killing and her funding of ICE, asking if she regretted her decision. Collins, moving to get on an elevator, quickly said ICE needed the money for "body cameras and training."

"They didn't wear cameras, though, did they, Senator?" Thakkar pressed as the elevator doors closed.

In August, when it was revealed ICE was investing in painful shock gloves to subdue people, Collins voiced that the tactic was "not" what she envisioned when signing off on "deescalation funding."

Collins faced a tough grilling from Jackson on other points during the debate.

Jackson brought up Collins' pivotal vote supporting Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanagh, who was among the justices that voted to overturn Roe V. Wade. Collins had previously said Kavanagh assured her that he felt the right to abortion was "settled law" before she voted to confirm him.

When asked if she felt Kavanagh lied to her, Collins stood up for him, saying, "to be fair, you can't ask a nominee about how they'll vote on a future hypothetical case."

Jackson and Collins also disagreed on the point that Collins was instrumental in pushing through Donald Trump's agenda.

The Democratic Maine logger cited analysis that Collins voted with Trump 96 percent of the time. Collins argued that she was "not exactly [Trump's] favorite Senator," adding, "I voted against my party more than another other senator on either side of the aisle."

Her attempt to distance herself from Trump is telling, as she and other vulnerable Republicans have worked to show how they are different from the historically unpopular POTUS.