Add your name: Abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's (ICE) major responsibility is to detain and deport immigrants. Contrary to Donald Trump's bloviating, the agency isn't targeting gang members or people who are a threat to public safety. They are deporting people with Down Syndrome, veterans, business owners, caregivers and so many others who do not pose a risk to the U.S.
ICE was one of the many mistakes of Congress in the wake of September 11th. Before Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) and the U.S. Customs Service were merged into the newly created Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. didn’t have an agency dedicated to deporting people who were no danger to us. Housing ICE in DHS sent a stark and inaccurate message that immigrants are a threat to our safety.
A little more than a decade later, President Barack Obama was deporting record numbers of immigrants—earning him the moniker "Deporter-in-Chief"— and the United States was spending more money on immigration enforcement than all other federal criminal law enforcement agencies combined.
ICE has flouted its own policy, has lied, has doctored evidence, has broken the law, and has committed egregious acts that have broken the public trust.
ICE's tactics and rhetoric aren't new. They are the continuation of a long history of racist and xenophobic laws governing who can enter this country and under what conditions they might stay. What is new are the speed and scale of which the agency operates and the lawlessness and impunity it is allowed. Left unchecked, this agency will carry out the worst of Trump's white nationalist impulses at the expense of our families, neighbors, communities, and souls.
Some congressional candidates have already publicly supported eliminating ICE. We need to grow that group so that it includes not just congressional candidates, but presidential hopefuls. To do that, we need to start now.
Add your name: Let's show candidates, elected officials at all levels of government, and the media that there's widespread support for eliminating this agency. Help us abolish ICE.
ICE was one of the many mistakes of Congress in the wake of September 11th. Before Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) and the U.S. Customs Service were merged into the newly created Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the U.S. didn’t have an agency dedicated to deporting people who were no danger to us. Housing ICE in DHS sent a stark and inaccurate message that immigrants are a threat to our safety.
A little more than a decade later, President Barack Obama was deporting record numbers of immigrants—earning him the moniker "Deporter-in-Chief"— and the United States was spending more money on immigration enforcement than all other federal criminal law enforcement agencies combined.
ICE has flouted its own policy, has lied, has doctored evidence, has broken the law, and has committed egregious acts that have broken the public trust.
ICE's tactics and rhetoric aren't new. They are the continuation of a long history of racist and xenophobic laws governing who can enter this country and under what conditions they might stay. What is new are the speed and scale of which the agency operates and the lawlessness and impunity it is allowed. Left unchecked, this agency will carry out the worst of Trump's white nationalist impulses at the expense of our families, neighbors, communities, and souls.
Some congressional candidates have already publicly supported eliminating ICE. We need to grow that group so that it includes not just congressional candidates, but presidential hopefuls. To do that, we need to start now.
Add your name: Let's show candidates, elected officials at all levels of government, and the media that there's widespread support for eliminating this agency. Help us abolish ICE.
