Photo by Tony Webster. No changes made. License.
In 2018, “Abolish Ice” was a progressive rallying cry. Prominent progressives like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez made it a centerpiece of their congressional campaign. Her electoral success showed a significant departure from the Democratic party’s old mantra of “tough but fair” immigration policy.
The slogan was seen as a massive liability to the Democratic party. It seemed too radical, unserious, and confirmed the caricature of the left that they do not believe in law enforcement. During the 2020 primary, most democratic candidates supported reform over abolition: keep ICE, but restructure and redistribute some of its duties to other agencies. The only candidates to support the agency’s complete abolition were Bernie Sanders and Bill DeBlasio.
Since that election, that Abolish ICE movement receded into the background, but the Trump administration's aggressive use of the agency has been making headlines around the globe, and it’s changing public opinion.
ICE’s popularity plunged thirty points last year. With a majority of Americans now disapproving of the agency. A recent YouGov poll found that 46% of Americans now support abolishing ICE, while 43% oppose. This is the first time a plurality of Americans support dissolving the agency.
The murder of Renee Good was a turning point. On January 7, Good was shot in her car during an encounter with ICE agents. The administration’s defense was that Johnathan Ross, the agent who shot and killed her, was acting in self defense because Good “weaponized her vehicle.” This is a shaky claim, given the fact that Ross had his cellphone recording in hand and a gun in the other, implying he did not see that his life was in imminent danger. Good also told Ross, “I am not mad at you,” before driving away, and Ross called Good a “fucking bitch” after shooting her three times. If this is how ICE treats a middle-class, educated, white, natural-born citizen, imagine how they treat everyone else.
What made it worse was the Administration’s belligerent response. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem labeled her as a domestic terrorist, a dangerously hyperbolic use of the label that many experts question. Worse still, the administration is refusing to allow state officials to investigate. This is alarming. It implies that ICE is not on our side. That it cares more about protecting its own than upholding the law. It's a sign that the agency has gone rogue.
The American people are finally waking to reality: ICE does more harm than good, its goals are misguided, it does not address the root of the problem, and its recent utilization has turned the force into an American gestapo.
The Trump administration, desperate for recruitment, shortened the training period from 13 weeks to just six. Their social media strategy borders on white nationalist propaganda. Official DHS social media posts refer to immigrants as “foreign invaders” and one post depicts Uncle Sam looking at a directional sign with the caption, “Which Way American Man?” This is a reference to the book, “Which Way Western Man?” a white supremacist book written by neo-nazi William Gayley Simpson. The post depicts the xenophobic buzzwords, “invasion,” “cultural decline,” pointing in the opposite direction of "opportunity" and “homeland.” These vulgar reforms have turned ICE from a bureaucratic detective agency to a military force of young men with an ideological commitment to racial purity.
Some still might contend that ICE ought to reform back to its pre-Trump state rather than be abolished. They’d argue that just because an institution is being abused for harmful ends, does not mean that institution ought to be abolished. If we used this logic, the entire American government ought to be dissolved. It’s a fair contention, if ICE inherently served a moral purpose. But the fact is that the agency is rotten to its core.
ICE doesn’t just target criminals, it targets otherwise law-abiding undocumented immigrants. People with jobs, people with families, people who contribute to the American economy and project. Is expelling these people because they crossed an imaginary line “the wrong way” really a good idea? Especially in the gruesome way it’s usually done?
Perhaps instead, we provide them a pathway to citizenship. Abolish the agency and allow local law enforcement to handle criminals and the federal courts system to deport them. Crossing the border without documentation should not be a crime. Amnesty for non-criminals is the best policy.
Many say this is unfair to those who came here the legal way. This could potentially be remedied by mandating that undocumented immigrants pay an extra 1% in taxes every year for five years while they try to become legal citizens, a fine rather than deportation. But keep in mind that the millions who are here illegally are so because the immigration system is so broken. Major reforms are needed, but those reforms must start with abolition.