WNBA star holds 'Abolish ICE' sign before game in Florida: 'Everyone here is feeling that way'

A professional women's basketball player said the time is right to display her "simple message" to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Breanna Stewart is a 30-year-old WNBA player for the New York Liberty, but she was playing in a different women's basketball league when she made her political statement on Sunday afternoon.

'Knowing that everyone here is feeling that way, one way or another.'

Before the game between the Unrivaled basketball league's Vinyl and Mist, Stewart stood holding a sign that read, "Abolish ICE," as players were being introduced. Stewart is a co-founder of the league, which plays in a mega-complex in Medley, Florida.

After the game, Stewart told reporters that "all day" Saturday, she had a problem with what she was seeing online.

"Really, all day yesterday, I was kind of just disgusted from everything that you see on Instagram and in the news," Stewart said during a press conference. "We're so fueled by hate right now, and instead of love, so I wanted to kind of have a simple message of 'abolish ICE,' which means ... having policies to uplift families and communities instead of fueling fear and violence."

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"I think that, you know, when human lives are stake, it's bigger than anything else," the three-time WNBA champion went on.

Stewart then called ICE enforcement and riots in Minnesota a "crisis" as she encouraged Americans to advocate for policy change.

"To have that simple message before the game was important to me, and knowing that everyone here is feeling that way, one way or another, and it was just a perfect time," she added.

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Photo by Michael Hirschuber/Getty Images

At the same time, Stewart's advocacy for adjusted immigration laws are directly related to her personal life.

The basketball player stated in the press conference that she has been "working to get" her Spanish wife, Marta Xargay, U.S. citizenship. "She is a legal permanent resident and all of that," Stewart explained.

"But it seems like it doesn't matter. And I think that that's why these policies need to be put in place, that reform needs to happen, because it doesn't seem to be affecting the right people. It's not helping anybody."

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