Abolishing ICE Wasn't Enough: Democrat Now Wants to Dismantle DHS and Border Patrol

Democrat Rep. Delia Ramirez (IL-03) wants to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), eliminate the Border Patrol, and dismantle the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). All of it. The Democrat formally introduced legislation Tuesday that would tear apart the country's existing immigration enforcement structure and replace DHS with something called the Department of Community Safety.

Her Reimagining Safety Act goes considerably further than the usual demands to abolish ICE. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) would disappear, along with the Border Patrol. The proposal would also end immigration detention programs, cancel existing detention contracts, and release immigrants held in federal immigration custody within six months.

Ankle monitors would come off. Border wall construction would stop. The Border Patrol's surveillance tower program would be shut down, too.

Ramirez argues that DHS has become a threat to the very communities it was established to protect. Her office issued a lengthy statement Tuesday blaming the department for deaths in immigration custody, deportations, and alleged abuses of federal authority, and she named names.

"Every person dead in detention, shot or killed by ICE and CBP, every neighbor deported to a third country, every family separated, every community FEMA failed, every miscarriage due to substandard care, every dissenter wrongfully branded, targeted, and persecuted as 'terrorist,' and every threat against our elections by Trump, Markwayne, and Miller is a reason DHS must be dismantled and something new must take its place. There are more than a million reasons to take action today."

That wasn't her only argument. In the same statement, she made the affirmative case for what comes next.

"Instead of the weapon DHS has proven to be, we need a department built on the best parts of who we are and can be, and the best examples of how we can take care of each other in hard times. I am proud to have led that work with the organizations in my district and nationally."

The new department would retain the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency. The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Coast Guard would move to Transportation, while Treasury would assume customs and trade responsibilities. Certain immigration functions would shift to the Justice Department.

What happens to the Border Patrol's existing enforcement responsibilities is another question. CBP currently inspects travelers, vehicles, and cargo entering the United States, intercepting narcotics and other contraband at ports of entry. The vast majority of fentanyl seized in the United States is caught by CBP agents at those ports. The agency Ramirez would eliminate. She would move some of its responsibilities elsewhere, without specifying who would screen the vehicles and cargo those agents currently stop.

Border facilities would instead be repurposed to receive asylum seekers, with social workers, medical professionals, and interpreters available to assist them.

The Trump administration has already made its position clear.

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin rejected the proposal when Ramirez (D-IL-03) announced it in September, defending the department's roughly 270,000 employees and accusing her of putting illegal immigrants ahead of American citizens.

"It's NEVER going to happen," Mullin declared.

Ramirez, however, sees the wholesale reorganization as something worth celebrating, and she's not shy about the word she chose to describe it. In Tuesday's announcement, Ramirez called dismantling DHS a "revolutionary act" and declared that "a different world is possible."

"Building something new, creating in a time of destruction, is a revolutionary act. It is proof of our hope and belief in what is possible even in dark times. A different world is possible because the people have the power to reshape our government and reimagine how we cultivate safety and collective well-being."

The legislation has attracted three original Democratic cosponsors: Democrat Rep. Rashida Tlaib (MI-12), a fellow Squad member, along with Democrat Reps. Adelita Grijalva (AZ-07) and Jim McGovern (MA-02). More than 40 advocacy organizations have endorsed the proposal, according to Ramirez's office.

For Trump, immigration enforcement has been a central priority since returning to the White House. His administration has defended expanded deportations and tougher border security, while Democrats have increasingly challenged the conduct and authority of federal immigration agents.

With the November midterms approaching, Ramirez has now provided a particularly stark alternative. Her proposal would abolish the agencies charged with securing the border and enforcing immigration law, while leaving their replacement responsibilities divided among other departments.

The bill faces substantial obstacles in Congress. But its sponsors have put their preferred direction for immigration enforcement on paper.

Apparently, even abolishing ICE wasn't enough.

Editor’s Note: Democrat politicians and their radical supporters will do everything they can to interfere with and threaten ICE agents enforcing our immigration laws.

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