Democratic leaders resist call of voters to abolish ICE
Support for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement is surging in the wake of the killing of Renee Nicole Good and officers’ increasingly violent conduct in Minneapolis and across the United States. Democrats in Congress, however, are clinging to the idea that the agency, which has become the tip of the spear in President Donald Trump’s authoritarian crackdown, can be reformed instead.
On Jan. 9, ICE officer Jonathan Ross shot and killed Good, a Minneapolis resident. Since then, multiple surveys have been published showing support nearing all-time highs for abolishing ICE.
A Civiqs poll published Monday found that 42% of respondents supported abolishing ICE, while 49% opposed, with support for abolishing the agency rising from 25% at the beginning of 2025. On Tuesday, a survey from the Economist and YouGov found that 46% of respondents support abolishing the agency, while 43% oppose doing so.
So far, however, calls to abolish ICE have gone unheard by political leadership, with only a handful of Congressional Democrats supporting the move.
It’s not clear, however, that Democrats will even use the leverage they have ahead of the Jan. 30 appropriations deadline to force reforms on the Department of Homeland Security. If Congress does not pass appropriations bills before the deadline, they risk a partial shutdown of Trump’s government, with shutdowns corresponding to which funding bills are passed. The most recent government shutdown was the longest in U.S. history.
In the Senate, members of the self-fashioned “Fight Club,” a group of Democrats aiming to challenge current leadership, have responded with reform bills aimed at reining in ICE.
“These actions have no place in our democratic republic, and we cannot allow these secret police tactics and attacks on our fundamental freedoms.”
The most drastic measure, known as the PUBLIC SAFETY Act, has been proposed by Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-N.M., and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto, D-Nev. The bill would redirect some $75 billion from ICE toward local law enforcement agencies. This act would essentially revoke the $75 billion budget Congress gave ICE last year, in addition to the $10 billion that ICE had already been appropriated.
“On streets in Oregon and across the country in recent weeks, we’ve witnessed the dangerous, lawless actions of ICE and federal agents, a manifestation of Trump’s authoritarian regime,” Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., told Salon. “ICE agents shot and killed Renee Good in Minnesota. In Portland and other cities, heavily armed, unidentified federal forces in unmarked vehicles are grabbing protesters off the street, even detaining U.S. citizens. These actions have no place in our democratic republic, and we cannot allow these secret police tactics and attacks on our fundamental freedoms.”
In response, Merkley is calling for the removal of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, and the passage of the Preventing Authoritarian Policing Tactics on America’s Streets Act, which would force ICE to display officers’ identities and limit ICE’s crowd control functions, among other provisions. Merkley is also backing the Restoring Access for Detainees Act, proposed by Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., which would require DHS to allow detainees to contact their families and legal counsel.
Similarly, in the House, Democrats have eyed changes to ICE. Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., who sits on the Committee on Homeland Security, told The Hill last week that “I think there is a pathway to accountability through the appropriations process.”
The Congressional Progressive Caucus announced Tuesday that it would oppose new funding for DHS until meaningful reforms are enacted.
“Our caucus members will oppose all funding for immigration enforcement in any appropriation bills until meaningful reforms are enacted to end militarized policing practices,” Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said at a press conference Tuesday. “We cannot and we should not continue to fund agencies that operate with impunity, that escalate violence and that undermine the very freedoms this country claims to uphold.”
Similarly, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus indicated to Politico that it would also be supporting reforms to ICE. The Democrats who favor reforms, however, have yet to consolidate around a list of demands.
Rep. Shri Thanedar, D-Mich., a House progressive, has proposed multiple bills relating to the agency. The first would end qualified federal immunity for ICE officers. The second would fully dismantle the agency, with Thanedar explaining that the U.S. was able to effectively manage immigration enforcement, a civil issue, before ICE’s creation in 2003.
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“Before 2003, without ICE, various federal agencies were able to take care of business, and we can do this without ICE. But we do not need the murderers. We do not need this paramilitary organizations’ members on our street terrorizing US citizens,” Thanedar said at a press conference on Wednesday.
Some House Democrats have also banded together to present articles of impeachment for Noem, accusing her of obstruction of Congress, violation of the public trust, and self-dealing. However, these articles aren’t likely to go anywhere in the GOP-controlled House, and are even less likely to result in a conviction in the Senate.
So far, however, it’s not clear whether the appetite for major reforms for ICE, let alone discussion of eliminating the agency, has percolated into Democratic leadership in Congress.
The leader of the Democrats in the House, Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., laid responsibility for Good’s death at the feet of administration officials and promised a decisive response. Jeffries has separately indicated that he’s planning to speak with other members of Congress on the issue this week. However, he has yet to make demands other than for a comprehensive investigation into the killing, an investigation which the administration has made clear isn’t going to happen.
“Blood is clearly on the hands of those individuals within the administration who’ve been pushing an extreme policy that has nothing to do with immigration enforcement connected to removing violent felons from this country,” Jeffries told reporters last week.
The leader of Democrats in the Senate, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., has also demanded an investigation, but little else. On separate occasions, Schumer blamed the shooting first on a lack of cooperation between ICE officers and local police, and then on a lack of training for ICE agents, though these don’t appear to be new policy proposals. Notably, the killer has been working with ICE since 2015. While ICE has often been criticized for its low standards for its officers, Ross had more than enough time to receive training.
All of this is coming to a head just weeks before the Jan. 30 appropriations deadline. While there are some congressional Democrats who are poised to put up a fight, all that the party has secured so far is a delay in the vote on DHS funding. The House Appropriations Committee chair, Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., indicated that he was optimistic about a deal earlier this week.
“Right now, some of the members are upset about ICE and we made the decision to not go ahead this week and buy some time to continue to talk,” Cole told reporters. “So we’re still trying to work things out, and hopefully we can.”
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