Pressure Mounts on Leaders to Support “Abolish ICE” Movement
Over 100 progressive Democrats, many of whom are members of the Democratic Socialists of America, have reached out to Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries. They’re urging these party leaders to endorse the movement to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In a letter penned on Monday by various state legislators, city council members, and local officials, they called for a public stance from the minority leaders in both the Senate and House to repeal ICE.
“We ask that you use your influence to defund and dismantle this corrupt federal agency,” the letter states. It was signed by notable figures like DSA member state Senator Julia Salazar (D-Brooklyn), Representative Diana Moreno (D-Queens), and City Councilmember Shahana Hanif.
“We appreciate Congressional Democrats’ recent attempts to block President Trump’s funding for ICE and Border Patrol,” they noted, adding, “we need to do more. The threat ICE poses to our communities and democracy can no longer be ignored, especially after its existence since 2002.”
This new push from DSA members comes in light of recent fatalities involving ICE agents, spurring a reevaluation of federal immigration enforcement.
Interestingly, while Jeffries hasn’t explicitly used the slogan “abolish ICE,” he has endorsed measures aimed at limiting ICE’s influence—like advocating for the removal of masks in Congress.
Just last week, he expressed pride to TikTok user Aaron Parnas about shutting down the government in response to immigration enforcement funding refusals.
“ICE needs significant reform. Immigration enforcement must be just and humane. Right now, ICE is out of control, and we certainly don’t want to fund Trump’s aggressive deportation agenda,” Jeffries commented.
A spokesperson for Schumer highlighted the efforts to shut down ICE, though didn’t directly call for any structural changes to the agency.
“Senator Schumer led the longest shutdown in history to combat ICE fraud, but there’s still much work ahead,” the spokesperson stated. “Democrats are committed to ending violence and brutality while addressing impunity.”
