The Democratic National Committee (DNC) approved a resolution urging Democratic lawmakers to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), as the party weighs how aggressively to challenge President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown ahead of the midterm elections.
DNC calls for reforms to ICE
DNC members backed the measure during the party’s summer meeting in Texas while giving stronger support to a separate proposal calling for reforms to ICE rather than eliminating the agency.
The abolition resolution calls on Democrats in Congress to pass legislation dissolving ICE and winding down the immigration detention system.
It also urges lawmakers to restrict Department of Homeland Security funding unless certain immigration enforcement tactics are halted, including workplace raids, mass roundups, arrests at courthouses and ICE check-ins, and operations near schools and houses of worship. The resolution also seeks to terminate contracts with private detention providers.
Donald Trump ramps up immigration enforcement
The move comes as the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement. In July, border czar Tom Homan said ICE was on pace to set arrest records for a second consecutive month, describing the administration’s enforcement push as “deportation-maxxing.”
DNC Chair Ken Martin stressed that resolutions approved by members do not necessarily constitute the Democratic Party’s official platform, which is adopted every four years at the national convention.
“Our official party positions are determined at the convention every four years in our platform,” Martin said in a statement to Newsweek. “However, clearly, the one thing that unites Democrats, regardless of their position on reform versus abolish or whatever other ways to change what’s happening, is people believe that what ICE is doing right now and CBP [U.S. Customs and Border Protection] and the federal government should stop. There has to be a better way.”
The White House responds
The White House quickly attacked the abolition proposal.
“Extreme radical Democrats want to abolish ICE and defund the police,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis told Newsweek. “Instead of trying to abolish ICE, Democrats should be thanking ICE law enforcement officers for putting their lives on the line to arrest and remove murderers, rapists, [child abusers] and gang members from American communities. Many of these criminals were released from jails by Democrat radical politicians. President Trump’s efforts to remove criminal illegal aliens from American communities is already delivering results including the lowest murder rate in 125 years.”