The move mirrors the party’s ill-fated embrace of the Defund the Police movement
A growing list of elected Democrats has begun calling to abolish ICE, a move reminiscent of the party’s rapid embrace of the Defund the Police movement in 2020.
“ICE terrorizes our cities. ICE puts us all in danger. Abolish ICE,” New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani wrote Saturday.
Illinois governor J.B. Pritzker, a potential 2028 presidential hopeful, posted, “It’s time to abolish Trump’s ICE.”
Chicago mayor Brandon Johnson, meanwhile, chanted “abolish ICE” on Monday while marching in front of a sign for the Freedom Road Socialist Organization, a Marxist-Leninist group working to “build a new, revolutionary, communist party” in the United States.
The trio’s demands put them on par with members of the far-left “Squad,” including Reps. Rashida Tlaib (Mich.) and Summer Lee (Pa.), who dubbed the United States “a police state.” They also mirror how Democrats joined calls to defund the police as the movement became popular in progressive circles before quickly falling out of favor amid skyrocketing crime in major cities across the nation.
Third Way, a moderate think tank, also compared the anti-law enforcement campaigns, warning that caving to the “abolish ICE” mob would be politically “lethal” and squander “one of the clearest opportunities in years” for meaningful reform. Another moderate think tank, the Searchlight Institute, noted that “advocating for abolishing ICE is tantamount to advocating for stopping enforcement of all of our immigration laws,” a policy that is “wrong on the merits and at odds with the American public.”
But the groups’ pleas didn’t stop more Democrats from jumping on the trend, particularly in response to a U.S. Border Patrol agent shooting and killing Alex Pretti, a 37-year-old armed anti-ICE agitator. The Department of Homeland Security said Pretti approached officers armed with a 9mm handgun and resisted their attempts to disarm him, prompting an agent to fire in self-defense, while bystander video shows Pretti struggling against several officers on the ground when shots rang out.
Shortly after the shooting, Rep. Ritchie Torres (D., N.Y.) boasted about his vote against funding ICE, accusing the agency of “unbridled brutality.” He urged the Senate to do the same, a move that could trigger a partial government shutdown. Illinois Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, a Senate candidate, added, “This cannot be reformed. Abolish ICE.”
Other Democrats have taken things further. Rep. Shri Thanedar (Mich.) introduced the Abolish ICE Act on Jan. 15, legislation that would “dismantle the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and end its current enforcement authority.” While it states that ICE’s mission “could be better executed by other Federal agencies,” it doesn’t specify which ones would take over the role.
Rep. Delia Ramirez (Ill.) didn’t stop with just ICE. She also called to abolish DHS entirely. The Illinois Democrat didn’t indicate what would happen to other agencies under the department’s purview, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Coast Guard, or the Secret Service.
Unions and left-wing groups have begun viewing resistance to ICE and immigration enforcement as their best opportunity in years to reignite the rage and rioting that marked the Black Lives Matter movement in 2020. Organizations like United Auto Workers, the Minnesota chapter of the AFL-CIO union, and the Professional Staff Congress City University of New York played leading roles in mass, coordinated anti-ICE protests and walk-outs across the country on Friday.
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