We Must Abolish ICE
The difference between what's legal and illegal is not the behavior of the lawbreaker; it is the interests of the powerful people who create the law and have control of the police to enforce it. -Derecka Purnell; Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protests, and the Pursuit of Freedom
On January 26, 2025, Jose Luis was on his way to work when he stopped to get gas. Moments later, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers surrounded his vehicle and began questioning him about his legal status. Jose had been living in the United States since 2010, when he immigrated from Mexico at 19 years old. In 2018, he met his wife, Rosa, who had two children from a previous relationship. Together, they had three children of their own. The father of five worked hard to start his own plumbing business and to provide for his family. None of that mattered to the ICE officers that day, and Jose Luis was detained. Rosa and the children were forced to sell family belongings just to get by and eventually evicted from their family home because they could no longer pay rent. Families all across the country are being torn apart by the aggressive and cruel deportation tactics of ICE and the only path towards a future rooted in justice is to abolish the agency entirely.
Derecka Purnell's quote explains the terror and mayhem that federal agents have brought to our communities since Trump returned to the presidency. The Trump Administration's views towards the immigrant community are no secret and are unashamedly racist. On his first day in office, President Trump signed an executive order attempting to void birthright citizenship and has since directed his Department of Justice (DOJ) to begin denaturalizing citizens for deportation. He has removed protection statuses for people who were legally granted asylum from various countries and threatens to deport those who do not leave voluntarily, many of whom have the right to apply for permanent residency. This includes Afghans who assisted the US military during the decades-long Afghanistan War against the Taliban, and who will surely be targeted if they return to their home country. US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers are detaining community members outside of immigration courthouses that are going through the legal process of obtaining legal status. They are detaining foreign students who are in the U.S. on approved student visas. The Trump Administration is doing everything possible to disrupt the legal pathways for migrants to come to this country legally. Trump has even said on more than one occasion that they will be looking into deporting U.S. citizens. This administration acts with no regard for the law, and ICE is willing to enforce these illegal and immoral policies dictated by the administration.
Beyond these policy decisions, the internal culture of ICE is morally bankrupt. In the Netflix documentary series Immigration Nation, the filmmakers follow ICE officers during the first Trump administration while conducting "removal operations" of undocumented migrants. Despite openly admitting to breaking families apart and arresting hard-working members of the community, all but one of the ICE agents featured in the series expresses no objections or remorse for their actions. The joy that some of the agents display while carrying out these mass arrests is also undeniable. This is attributed to their belief that all undocumented individuals are criminals, regardless of their contributions to their families and communities. Following President Trump's reelection in November, Jennie Taer from the New York Post reported that "rank-and-file employees at the agency [ICE] were excited to be 'catching criminals that Biden let roam freely in the country for the last four years without any consequences.'" This display of enthusiasm is not only disturbing but also points to a deeper systemic issue within the culture of ICE, one that dehumanizes immigrants and prioritizes ideology over justice, empathy, and due process.
As a result, ICE has had a cavalier presence in communities around the country. There has been an expansion of raids conducted at worksites, transportation hubs, residential neighborhoods, and public areas. The Department of Homeland Security also rescinded enforcement guidelines that previously restricted ICE from conducting raids on "sensitive" locations such as churches, schools, and hospitals. The agency has also expanded its use of various technologies to track individuals, including GPS, artificial intelligence, and facial recognition. All of this comes at a steep cost. Thanks to President Trump's so-called "Big Beautiful Bill," the annual budget for enforcement operations will see a $30 billion increase, which is just a fraction of the $175 billion total budget increase for Trump's deportation machine.
With opposition growing, many political leaders have seized on the opportunity to reduce the pain felt within immigrant communities to political talking points for their own gain. Democratic leaders have been vocally condemning the cruelty and illegality of the chaos and terror ICE has unleashed in our communities, but few have committed to supporting the only plausible long-term solution: abolition of the agency. In fact, prior to Trump's return to office, the Democratic Party had moved to the right on immigration and supported annual increases to ICE's budget throughout the Biden administration. This is unacceptable. Even if Democrats retake the presidency in 2028, simply reining in the agency will not cure the toxicity that is deeply embedded in ICE's culture. This is evident in how the rank-and-file of the agency have proven that they are capable of simply waiting until a president who shares their values, or lack thereof, is back in power.
More importantly, this discussion has only focused on the cruelty of ICE's deportation tactics and has not even addressed the corrupt nature and inhumane conditions in ICE detention centers. Our political leaders must abandon the illusion that reform is possible and fully commit to abolition. Abolishing ICE is the only solution that will lead us toward an immigration system rooted in justice and humanity.