Melting ICE? A Handful of Democrats Turn Up the Heat

As the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency continues to draw criticism for its arrest of immigrants and abuse of detainees, the idea of abolishing the agency entirely is starting to gather momentum among some Democrats.

Deb Haaland is the Democratic nominee for Congress in New Mexico’s First District and is considered a heavy favorite in November’s general election. She is also one of the first prominent Democratic candidates to make the abolition of ICE part of her platform.

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With a victory, Haaland would also become the first Native American woman to serve in Congress, a heritage that has influenced her stance.

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ICE has drawn criticism from immigration advocates for years, but scrutiny has increased under President Trump. In the last month the agency has participated in the separation of migrant families at the border, detained a delivery driver who was bringing a pizza to an Army base in Brooklyn and arrested a legal resident of Mexican origin over a decades-old misdemeanor charge that had already been resolved. As ICE makes arrests outside schools, courthouses and hospitals, some medical facilities are developing plans to protect their patients from agents. There have been accusations of sexual assault from detainees, and last year ICE’s acting director was confronted at a town hall by a Holocaust survivor over the agency’s tactics.

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The proposal’s popularity among Democrats will be tested on Tuesday in the New York state primaries, in which two outsider candidates are seeking to oust incumbent Congress members. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is the 28-year-old challenging Rep. Joe Crowley, who has represented New York’s 14th District since 1999. Ocasio-Cortez has been an outspoken detractor of ICE since launching her campaign last year. Suraj Patel, a former Obama staffer challenging another long-serving incumbent, Carolyn Maloney, in New York’s 12th, has called for the defunding of the agency and built a fundraising campaign around the concept.

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Matt Haggman is running in a competitive Democratic primary for Florida’s 27th district, which will be vacant due to a Republican retirement. Haggman, whose wife’s parents were Cuban refugees, told Yahoo News that some voters have expressed concern that eliminating ICE would result in open borders. Haggman said his reply is to point out that ICE is an internal enforcement agency and its absence wouldn’t affect border security. He also referenced the fact there is no correlation between an increase in immigration and an increase in crime, and some studies have found the inverse to be true.

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Randy Bryce is a Wisconsin Democrat running for Rep. Paul Ryan’s soon-to-be-vacated seat who has also come out for the abolition of ICE. Bryce said he isn’t concerned that the message could hurt him in an overwhelmingly white district.

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The trend that started among Democratic candidates has spread to sitting legislators, as four incumbents have recently come out in support of eliminating the agency. Rep. Pramila Jayapal of Washington said in an interview last week she “would love to see ICE go.” Saturday saw Rep. Jim McGovern of Massachusetts tell a town hall that “we need to get rid of ICE” while Rep. Earl Blumenauer of Oregon published a statement on Sunday supporting the agency’s elimination.

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On Monday, Rep. Mark Pocan of Wisconsin took the next step, announcing his intention after visiting the southern border to submit legislation this week that would eliminate ICE. The bill has no chance of passing or even being voted on under the current Republican majority, but it will provide a means for Democratic legislators to signal their condemnation of the agency by co-sponsoring the bill.

Sean McElwee, a writer and activist who was one of the first voices calling for the abolition of ICE, has found himself surprised at how fast the movement is spreading.

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Still, abolishing ICE is a long way from being the mainstream Democratic position. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., who caucuses with the Democrats and is seen as a potential 2020 presidential contender, declined to call for the group’s elimination when asked during a Sunday CNN interview. But Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., has reconsidered her position on the agency. Harris, who is also viewed as a potential 2020 candidate, said Sunday during an interview with NBC News that “we need to probably think about starting from scratch” in immigration enforcement. Back in March, Harris said during an MSNBC interview that “ICE has a purpose, ICE has a role, ICE should exist.”

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“Every Democrat running for the presidency in 2020 will have to articulate a vision for a world without ICE,” said McElwee. “I have no doubt about that. And millions of Democratic primary voters will demand their Senate and House candidates do the same.”