Boston City Councilor At-Large Ayanna Pressley says she supports defunding the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency in light of its "central role in enforcing deeply flawed, destructive immigration policies."



Pressley said she was moved by the persistent problems with sexual violence and subpar living conditions in ICE detention facilities in a news release Monday.





"Our immigration system is fundamentally broken and ICE's role in supporting the existing system - including separating families seeking refuge in the United States and conducting indiscriminate deportation raids in our communities - is creating an atmosphere of toxic fear and mistrust in immigrant communities," Pressley said in the news release.



Pressley, who is running for U.S. Rep. Michael Capuano's seat in Congress, said she supports "comprehensive immigration reform" that would include a path for citizenship for all undocumented immigrants already living in the United States.



She said in the short term ICE should be shut down to "remove the existential threat facing immigrant communities."



While immigration - in particular, family separation - has dominated the headlines in recent weeks, few congressional Democrats have supported the idea of abolishing ICE altogether.



Asked on CNN Sunday morning Sen. Bernie Sanders, arguably the most prominent left-wing politician in the country, declined that step. Instead, he said Congress should focus on reform, which would, in turn, fix the problems within ICE.





Pressley, though, argues it's the only way to stop the "significant, long-lasting trauma that undermines efforts to build trust with immigrant communities."



"ICE was created less than 20 years ago, and it is clear now that the agency is irrevocably broken," Pressley wrote. "If elected I will work with Federal leaders to rehouse the non-immigration enforcement functions of ICE - including human trafficking and money laundering investigations - elsewhere in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, while immediately eliminating funding for enforcement and removal functions."



Pressley plans to release more details about her immigration plan later this week.