Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was a US federal law enforcement agency which was founded on 1 March 2003 as part of the Department of Homeland Security. Its objectives were to enforce immigration laws and counter transnational crime, and it was controversial due to allegations of sexual abuse against detained undocumented immigrants, for carrying out record numbers of deportations, separating migrant children from their families, and keeping undocumented children in cages under unhealthy conditions. ICE endorsed Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential election, and many Democrats, including congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, called for ICE to be abolished.