Several prominent Democrats previously called for abolishing or significantly restructuring Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) during the Trump administration due to concerns over its enforcement practices.
Senators Gillibrand, Warren and Sanders as well as Representatives Pocan, Jayapal, Espaillat, Blumenauer, McGovern, Velázquez and Clarke introduced or supported legislation between 2018-2019 to eliminate ICE or break it up.
“I don’t think ICE today is working as intended. . . . I believe that it has become a deportation force, and I think you should separate the criminal justice from the immigration issues,” Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand said in 2018.
“I think you should reimagine ICE under a new agency with a very different mission and take those two missions out,” she added. “We believe that we should protect families who need our help and that is not what ICE is doing today, and that’s why I believe you should get rid of it, start over, reimagine it and build something that actually works.”
“[Trump’s] deeply immoral actions have made it obvious that we need to rebuild our immigration system from top to bottom, starting by replacing ICE with something that reflects our values,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren said in 2018.
“From conducting raids at garden centers and meatpacking plants, to breaking up families at churches and schools, ICE is tearing apart families and ripping at the moral fabric of our nation. . . . The agency can no longer accomplish its goals effectively,” Rep. Mark Pocan said in 2018.
“I’m introducing legislation that would abolish ICE and crack down on the agency’s blanket directive to target and round up individuals and families,” he added.
“There was enforcement of our immigration laws before ICE was created, and there will be after ICE, as an agency, is gone. As it stands, ICE is out of control,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal said.
“We are witnessing a human rights crisis, and our bill would bring forward a new model and dismantle ICE once and for all,” Rep. Adriano Espaillat said.
“It’s time to abolish ICE,” Rep. Jim McGovern said.
“We need to start a fresh conversation,” he added at the time.
Ocasio-Cortez also expressed support for abolishing ICE and possibly eliminating the Department of Homeland Security.
“Would you get rid of Homeland Security, too?” Radio Hour’s David Remnick asked Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
“I think so, I think so. I think we need to undo a lot of the egregious, a lot of the egregious mistakes that the Bush administration did. I feel like we are at a very, it’s a very qualified and supported position, at least in terms of evidence, and in terms of being able to make the argument, that we never should’ve created DHS in the early 2000s,” Ocasio-Cortez said at the time.
However, there has been little resistance from these Democrats to ICE enforcement under Biden as the border crisis has escalated, and none responded to questions about their current views on ICE.
