President Donald Trump used a charity dinner honoring military troops Tuesday to deliver a campaign-style attack on Democrats, saying again that they want to “abandon” federal personnel who patrol the country’s borders.

“You have to be tough. … We need tough laws, we need fair laws,” Trump said in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia. “But when these people come in … illegally, and they’re dispersed across the country, and you see nests of MS-13. … it’s like you’re liberating towns. And we send ICE in.”

He was referring to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which has become a major midterm election issue since the administration’s practice of separating migrant children from their parents caught illegally entering the country became a crisis. That’s because some Democrats — including likely presidential candidates such as Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts — have called for the agency to be terminated.

Watch: This 4th of July, Expect Trump to be Trump on Immigration