Illinois Democrats join growing calls to 'Abolish ICE'

Several Illinois Democrats are joining calls to “Abolish ICE,” even as national Democrats grapple with warnings about the movement’s potential impacts on midterm elections.

U.S. Rep. Delia Ramirez, Senate candidates Raja Khrishnamoorthi and Juliana Stratton, 9th Congressional District candidates Daniel Biss and Kat Abughazaleh and 4th Congressional District candidate Patty Garcia are among a group of Democrats pushing to abolish ICE — a platform that is once again gaining traction after the shooting death of Renee Good by an ICE agent in Minneapolis.

“Fine! Abolish ICE and DHS,” Ramirez wrote on X on Jan. 13 in response to Third Way, a center-left think tank, warning Democrats to steer clear of the movement and calling it politically “lethal.” The memo cautioned that using extreme rhetoric would squander “one of the clearest opportunities in years to secure meaningful reform of immigration enforcement — while handing Republicans exactly the fight they want,” NBC reported.

In calling to abolish ICE, Stratton, the lieutenant governor, said the agency is “out of control and beyond reform.”

“New leadership or a smaller budget can't change the fact that ICE exists to terrorize communities and execute Trump's authoritarian agenda,” Stratton said in a statement. "We've seen it in Chicago, we've seen it in Minneapolis, and the violence will continue as long as ICE exists.”

Khrishnamoorthi, also vying for Durbin’s Senate seat, on Friday night wrote on X, “We must abolish Trump’s ICE.” Khrishnamoorthi said he would not support “one more dollar for ICE as long as this agency — operating without oversight and accountability — continues to kill and injure our neighbors.”

Biss, the Evanston mayor, and Abughazaleh have both said they support abolishing ICE, with Biss on Friday night urging, “This is the moment to draw the line.”

Garcia is the lone Democrat to run in the 4th Congressional District after U.S. Rep. Jesus "Chuy" Garcia cleared the path for her — his chief of staff — in a last-minute ballot maneuver. She is taking on a more progressive stance than her former boss — and is actively campaigning on a platform to abolish ICE.

"I think it's well overdue, beyond the time, that we halt any funding to ICE and that we do abolish ICE in its form," Garcia told the Sun-Times. "We've got to do better with how we treat immigrants in this country and what we've done now has been unveiled to everyone... It's hard to turn away from a very clear, very visible picture of what enforcement looks like. It's no longer happening behind closed doors or only in detention centers."

An Economist/YouGov poll conducted between Jan. 9 and Jan. 12 found 46% of U.S. adult citizens polled said they “strongly or somewhat support” abolishing ICE. Another 12% said they were not sure and 43% said they “strongly or somewhat oppose” the movement. In total, 77% of Democrats, 47% of independents and 14% of Republicans polled said they supported abolishing ICE.

Progressive activists and lawmakers began the Abolish ICE movement in 2018 during Trump's first term, fueled by the separation of families at the border. Trump capitalized on the movement, and painted the Democratic party as weak on immigration and national security issues. Party strategists then also warned Democrats that the movement could be a losing message.

But the immigration enforcement actions in U.S. cities, including the killing of Good, is now bolstering the effort and engaging Americans.

Beyond the calls to abolish ICE, many Illinois Democrats are following another plan: building a coalition to limit Department of Homeland Security funding and reacting to controversial ICE raids. Rep. Jesus “Chuy” Garcia, along with the Congressional Progressive Caucus, is opposing an appropriations bill that provides any funding to immigration enforcement agencies within DHS “unless there are meaningful and significant reforms to immigration enforcement practices.”

U.S. Rep Robin Kelly, also running for Durbin’s seat in the Democratic primary, filed articles of impeachment against Noem, a notion that Krishnamoorthi quickly supported, writing on X, “I’ll be your first cosponsor.”

Kelly’s push is a longshot because she would need Republicans in the House to approve the charges in her impeachment resolution. Kelly’s articles allege that Noem obstructed Congress, violated the public trust and engaged in self-dealing. U.S. Reps. Danny Davis, Eric Sorensen, Jan Schakowsky, Jonathan Jackson, Mike Quigley, Nikki Budzinski, Krishnamoorthi, and Sean Casten are among the 70 co-sponsors.

Ramirez has said she would vote to support Noem’s impeachment, and she has pushed for months for Noem to either resign, be fired or impeached. As a member of the Homeland Security Committee, Ramirez is also pushing for the committee, as well as the House Judiciary Committee, to open an investigation into Noem, which she sees as the first steps towards impeachment.