This statue honoring the Birmingham Children's Crusade sits across from the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. (Photo by Patrick T. FALLON / AFP)
Fox News Digital reached out to campaign representatives for Mejia but did not hear back in time for publication.
"Anyone who has studied American history understands, every time across our nation’s history, we keep having these cycles of when regular, everyday Americans grab those words of freedom and try to pull them to cover as many of us as possible," Mejia explained further, in a separate interview she conducted after securing her nomination, with Democracy NOW.
"We then have kind of a reaction in this nation, whether it was after Reconstruction or after the civil rights movement or after the election of Barack Obama. It’s almost as if we have this snap back, this clap back to expansive freedom."
Comparing ICE to racists is nothing new for the Democratic Party.
Rep. Jasmine Crockett, D-Texas, for example, compared them to slave patrols, while in January the NAACP posted a split-image comparing ICE agents to the KKK. The KKK comparison also recently reared its head during California's gubernatorial debate and just a few days ago, Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass, complained "ICE can't be reformed anymore than the KKK could."
TRUMP DHS HAMMERS DEM GOVERNOR’S PORTAL TO TRACK ICE AGENTS: 'ENCOURAGES VIOLENCE'
Zohran Mamdani delivers a victory speech at a mayoral election night watch party, Nov. 4, 2025, in New York City. (Yuki Iwamura/AP)
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