A growing number of Democrats are calling for the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency to be abolished, which has coincided with fierce opposition to the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” immigration policy.
President Trump has said the Democrats will be “beaten so badly” if they campaign on a platform of dismantling ICE, but some in the party see it as an effective rallying call.
Here is of Democrats who have said they would like to see the demise of the agency:
- Sen. Elizabeth Warren: The Massachusetts senator and liberal fixture said Saturday at a rally in Boston: “We need to rebuild our immigration system from top to bottom by starting with replacing ICE with something that reflects our morality.”
- Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.: Like Warren, she is a potential 2020 contender. Gillibrand decried ICE as a “deportation force” — a reference to child separation at the border that Trump officials have criticized as being inaccurately pinned on ICE. She told CNN she would like to get “rid of it, start over, reimagine it and build something that actually works.”
- Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis.: The chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus is working on legislation to eliminate ICE. Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., Jim McGovern, D-Mass., Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., and Mike Capuano, D-Mass., have indicated they would support such a bill, according to Vox.
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez: The 28-year-old self-declared socialist who defeated fourth-ranking House Democrat Joe Crowley of New York last week. She ran on a platform that includes abolishing ICE.
- New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio: “ICE’s time has come and gone,” the mayor said in a radio interview on Friday.
- Cynthia Nixon: The actress-turned-Democratic candidate for New York governor has called ICE a”terrorist organization” that should be abolished.
- Randy Bryce. This labor organizer who is vying to take retiring House Speaker Paul Ryan’s seat in Wisconsin’s First Congressional District encouraged his Twitter followers in April to sign their support for abolishing ICE.
- 50/50: Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., hasn’t gone so far as to call for abolishing ICE, but did say last week that ICE should be reassessed “from scratch.”
Meanwhile, some Democrats on Saturday cautioned against the efficacy of abolishing ICE.
Sen. Tammy Duckworth, D-Ill., said on CNN that even if ICE is taken apart, the same “failed” policies will remain. There are “a lot of things we could do” before making the move to replace the agency entirely, she said.
Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., echoed that sentiment. “I think what has to change are the policies. And the people who are making these policies are making horrendous decisions like separating kids from their parents. We are always going to need immigration enforcement,” Klobuchar said on ABC’s “This Week.” “We are a major country with major borders. To me, it’s ‘What are those policies?’”
