A handful of prominent Democrats in the Senate and House have previously supported the idea of abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the agency tasked with enforcing immigration laws in communities and at the border.
Resistance and pushback from Democrats on ICE enforcement under President Biden as the border crisis continues to wreak havoc on American citizens, cities, and communities despite previous calls to abolish ICE There were hardly any.
Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, two Democrats seeking their party’s nomination in the 2020 presidential election, have been involved in the ICE administration during former President Donald Trump’s tenure. He is a prominent leader who has previously led calls for the complete abolition or dismantling of the White House.
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Several Democrats called for abolishing ICE during Trump’s tenure in the White House. (Getty Images)
In a 2018 appearance on CNN, Gillibrand said: “I don’t think ICE today is working as intended. … I think ICE has become a deportation force. I think we should separate criminal justice and immigration” issues. “
“I think we should rethink ICE under a new agency with a completely different mission and get rid of these two missions,” she added at the time. “We believe that we should protect the families that need our help, but what ICE is doing today is not that. That’s why we need to get rid of it, start over, rethink it, and actually I believe we need to build something that works.”
Warren also challenged authorities in 2018, writing: facebook post June 2018: “[Trump’s] This deeply immoral act has made it clear that we need to rebuild our immigration system from top to bottom, starting with replacing ICE with one that reflects our values. ”
Although he did not directly call for the abolition of ICE, he included a 2019 plan announced by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent, who joined Democrats and was the party’s presidential candidate in 2016 and 2020. The independent lawmaker he was seeking to nominate included dismantling ICE and Customs and Border Protection. Protection (CBP).
Sanders’ proposal would return deportation and enforcement to the Justice Department, customs to the Treasury, and naturalization and citizenship to the State Department.
A 2019 plan announced by Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vermont) included splitting ICE and CBP. ((AP Photo/Jacqueline Martin, File))
Several House Democrats also called for “ending” ICE under the Trump administration and expressed support for “abolishing” the agency.
Introduced by Congressman Mark Pocan (D-Wis.) law If that happens in 2018, it would “end” ICE and called for the creation of a commission “tasked with establishing a humane immigration enforcement system.” It never received a vote in the House of Representatives.
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Mr. Pocan’s bill is sponsored by Reps. Pramila Jayapal of Washington, Adriano Espaillat of New York, Blumenauer of Oregon, Jim McGovern of Massachusetts, Adam Smith of Washington, and Reps. It was co-sponsored by seven other Democrats remaining in Congress, including Rep. Nydia Velasquez. Yvette Clark in New York.
“From raids on garden centers and meatpacking plants to tearing apart families in churches and schools, ICE is tearing apart families and tearing apart the moral fabric of our nation. It cannot be achieved,” Pocan said. he said at the time.
He added, “I’m introducing legislation that would abolish ICE and crack down on its blanket mandate to target and round up individuals and families.”
Regarding the efforts in July 2018, Jayapal said in a statement, “Immigration laws were enforced before ICE was created, and there will be enforcement even after ICE ceases to be a government agency.As it stands, ICE It’s out of control.” . ”
In 2018, Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said of ICE, “We should abolish the current government agency and rebuild its functions from scratch.” (Nathan Posner/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Mr. Espaillat also strongly supported the initiative, saying that lawmakers are “calling for the abolition of ICE because it has strayed far from its original mission, intent, and purpose.”
“We are witnessing a human rights crisis, and our bill advances a new model and dismantles ICE once and for all,” he added.
Join her colleagues Velazquez also said “The time has come to abolish ICE.”
Blumenauer too I wanted an end In 2018, he argued against the agency that the Trump administration had “made the agency so harmful that it was time to abolish ICE and start over.”
The Oregon Legislature’s office said in a press release at the time that he was “one of the first legislators to call for the abolition of ICE” and voted against its creation.
Like Blumenauer, McGovern also voted against establishing ICE.in 2018 commentsthe Massachusetts congressman said, “It’s time to abolish ICE.”
“We need to start a new dialogue,” he added at the time.
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Although she was not sworn in as a member of Congress until January 2019, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D.N.Y.) also advocated for abolishing ICE and even suggested she wanted to abolish the Department of Homeland Security. The one that supervises the agency.
The congressman’s comments came during a July 2019 discussion with David Remnick of The New Yorker Radio Hour about the possibility of reforming or abolishing ICE.
“Why not abolish the Department of Homeland Security as well?” Remnick asked.
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D.N.Y.) has called for the abolition of ICE and has indicated that she will move to abolish DHS, which oversees ICE. (Tom Williams/Getty Images)
“I think so, I think so too. I think we need to undo a lot of the terrible, terrible mistakes that the Bush administration made. We’re very, very entitled. “Yes, I feel like I’m in a supported position, at least in terms of the evidence and in being able to make the case that DHS should not have been created in the early 2000s,” Ocasio-Cortez responded at the time. .
Ocasio-Cortez renewed her call for ICE to be abolished in January 2021, writing: Post on social media“Abolish ICE.”
In 2022, New York state legislator calls for “abolition of ICE” Her official team shop displayed T-shirts, posters and magnets featuring an ice cooler with the word “obsolete” spray-painted in red above the word “ice.” But right now, her hat appears to be the only item in her online store that says “Abolish ICE.”
To understand where they currently stand on this issue, Fox News Digital reached out to every Democrat mentioned in this article who called for the abolition, dissolution, or termination of ICE. Ta. No one responded.
ICE was established in 2003 as a component of DHS in response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
ICE was formed The passage of the Homeland Security Act of 2002 absorbed the responsibilities of the former Immigration and Naturalization Service and the U.S. Customs Service, which were previously under the control of the Treasury Department.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Seal. (Paul J. Richards/AFP via Getty Images)
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The agency is currently led by Acting Director Patrick J. Lechleitner, a United States law enforcement official who has served in the role since July 2023.
CBP records show there were 1,340,801 total encounters in the first six months of fiscal year 2024, surpassing the first six months of fiscal year 2023, which set a record of 1,226,254 total encounters.
