The ‘Stop ICE’ message came back. Is it more likely this time?

WASHINGTON – “Stop ICE.”

Democratic lawmakers and elected officials across the country are increasingly returning to the rhetoric, which became popular during the Trump administration, as they react to the administration’s immigration enforcement tactics.

The shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent this month in Minneapolis sparked immediate outrage among Democratic officials, who raised various demands for the watchdog — including dismantling the agency — to strengthen what they see as hostile and sometimes illegal tactics.

Raising a slogan is perhaps the most dangerous way. Republicans get a chance to paint Democrats, especially those in vulnerable seats, as bigots.

“If their answer is to dust off ‘ICE,’ we’re happy to fight any day of the week,” said Christian Martinez, a spokesman for the National Republican Congressional Committee. The group has issued dozens of press statements in recent weeks accusing Democrats of wanting to end ICE — even those who haven’t made direct statements using the term.

Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) amplified that message Wednesday, writing on social media that “When Democrats say they want to end or get rid of ICE, what they really mean is they want to go back to the open borders policies of the Biden administration. The American people have resoundingly rejected that idea in the 2024 election.”

The next day, Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) introduced the “De-Freezing Act,” saying Good’s killing “proved that ICE is out of control and beyond reform.” The bill would rescind “non-obligatory” federal funding and redirect some assets to its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.

Many Democrats who want the complete abolition of ICE come from the progressive wing of the party. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said in a televised interview that the organization should be abolished because the actions taken by its agents are “racist” and “brutal.” Jack Schlossberg, who is running for a House seat in New York, said “if Trump’s ICE is shooting and abducting people, stop it.”

Some prominent leaders are still adamant that this organization should be disbanded.

Two protesters held signs commemorating people arrested by ICE, or who died during the process, at a rally in front of the Federal Building in Los Angeles on Friday.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Sen. Alex Padilla, (D-Calif.) who last year was forcibly arrested and removed from a news conference organized by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, joined a protest in Washington demanding justice, saying “It’s time to get ICE and CBP out,” referring to US Customs and Border Protection.

“This is a time when all of us must be strong to ensure that we take back what is currently an out-of-control agency,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said on social media. “We have to speak up and make it clear that ICE is not welcome in our communities.”

Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) said Democrats who want to end ICE “want to go back to the open borders policies of the Biden administration.”

(Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press)

Some are eyeing Homeland Security’s annual budget negotiations as a key point to include their demands, such as requiring federal agents to remove their masks and turn on their body-worn cameras while on duty, and calling for agents who commit crimes on the job to be prosecuted. Seventy House Democrats, including at least 13 from California, supported the measure to censure Noem.

Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Diego), who serves on the House Appropriations Committee, said his focus is not on eliminating the agency, which he believes has a “significant responsibility” but has been misled by Noem.

He said Noem must answer for his actions through congressional hearings, not impeachment — at least not while Republicans are about to control the hearings, as he believes House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) will make a “mockery” of them.

“I’m going to use the appropriations process,” Levin said, adding that “he’s going to continue to focus on precautionary measures, regardless of what it’s about.”

Chuck Rocha, a Democratic Alliance political strategist, said Republicans are holding up talk of repeal as a scare tactic to offset the rising cost of living, which is another major concern of voters.

“They hope to disrupt [voters] saying, ‘Sure, we’re going to get better economically — but the Democrats are still crazy,'” he said.

Dozens of local Angelenos and DC organizers, as well as local activists, gathered in front of the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. Democrats have struggled for years to advance a unified vision on immigration — one of the key issues that won President Trump back to the White House.

(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)

Democrats have struggled for years to advance a unified vision on immigration — one of the key issues that won President Trump back to the White House. Any deal to expand restrictions on Homeland Security faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled Congress, leaving many proposals years away from implementation. Even if Democrats were able to block the annual funding bill, the agency still has tens of billions of dollars from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Still, roving attacks, violent clashes with protesters and the arrests and deaths of US citizens and immigrants alike increase the urgency many lawmakers feel to act.

Two centrist groups released memos last week written by former Homeland Security officials under the Biden administration urging Democrats to avoid divisive language and instead channel their anger into specific reforms.

“All calls to end ICE risk squandering one of the clearest opportunities in years for meaningful immigration enforcement reform — while giving Republicans the fight they want,” wrote the authors of the memo, from the Washington-based think tank Third Way.

“Advocating for the abolition of ICE is tantamount to advocating the suspension of all our immigration laws in the middle of the United States – a policy position that is fundamentally wrong and at odds with the American public on this issue,” wrote Blas Nuñez-Neto, senior policy officer at the Searchlight Institute think tank and former assistant secretary of Homeland Security.

About 46% of Americans said they support the idea of ​​ending ICE, while 43% are opposed, according to a YouGov/Economist poll released last week.

Sarah Pierce, a former policy analyst at US Citizenship and Immigration Services who co-wrote the Third Way memo, said future polls may show less support for the agency’s elimination, especially if the question is included as an option among options that include changes such as prohibiting agents from wearing masks or requiring the use of body cameras.

“There is no doubt that there will be other tragedies and each, an attempt to take a difficult position like ending ICE,” he said.

Laura Hernandez, executive director of Freedom for Immigrants, a California-based organization that advocates for the closure of detention centers, said the growing number of lawmakers who want to end ICE is overdue.

“We need lawmakers to use their power to stop military raids, to shut down detention centers and we need them to shut down ICE and CBP,” she said. “This violence that people see on television is not new, it is literally built into the DNA of DHS.”

Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) introduced the “Abolish ICE Act.”

(Paul Sancia / Associated Press)

Cinthya Martinez, a UC Santa Cruz professor who has studied the movement to end ICE, noted that it stems from the struggle to end prisons. Part of its abolition, he said, is fueled by mainstream politicians as some liken immigrants to modern-day slave labor.

Martinez said the goal is more than just eliminating one agency or redirecting its operations to another. He pointed out that besides the ICE agents there were Border Patrol, FBI and ATF.

“Many people forget that the abolition of prisons is the complete abolition of carceral systems. It comes from the Black culture that prison is a continuation of slavery,” he said.

But Peter Markowitz, a law professor and director of the Immigration Justice Clinic at the Cardozo School of Law, said the movement to end ICE in 2018 among mainstream politicians was always about having effective and humane immigration enforcement, not being passive.

“But it’s heated because it didn’t answer the next policy question: If not ICE, then what?” he said. “I hope we are in a different situation today.”