Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) went on CNN this morning and among other things said, “I think ICE needs to be totally torn down… People want immigration enforcement that goes after criminals, not the goon squad that has come from Stephen Miller and Trump.” This is where every Democrat should be. Shut down ICE and replace it with a new immigration enforcement agency built on the rule of law and actually enforcing the country’s immigration laws in a humane and lawful way, as opposed to ICE, which has turned into a presidential paramilitary focused on cleansing violence and treating Blue cities like conquered territories.
But these comments are more important as a signal. Gallego came out of the progressive wing of the House Democratic caucus and a pretty blue urban House district in Pheonix. But he made some significant shifts to run and win statewide. Among those was running significantly if not dramatically to the right of most Democrats on immigration issues. The fact that he’s now saying ICE should be “totally torn down” speaks volumes. He sees where the public is on ICE. He certainly knows where Arizonans are on ICE.
We’re still hearing there’s a “debate” among Democrats on “abolish ICE.” It’s fine if people want to avoid the word “abolish.” It’s probably no accident Gallego said it should be “totally torn down.” It’s a tad latinate anyway if you’re still under the long hand of Strunk & White. But I think very few people are seeing ICE as any kind of police force that is protecting them or making any place they operate safer. Indeed, there’s been very clear polling on this recently. Big majorities think ICE makes areas where it operates less rather than more safe and is a source of chaos and violence rather than an answer to it. Even though they wouldn’t put it that way, I think even ICE’s most diehard supporters get that.
So yes, tear it down. Build another non-police-state-freak-show immigration agency. Sometimes you have to take positions that are not popular in the hopes that they will become popular and because they are rooted in core beliefs. This isn’t one of those times. On ICE itself, Democrats have a pretty free hand to say what actually should be done clearly and vocally. Tear it down. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey was on the same edition of CNN’s State of the Union saying clearly that “you don’t have militarized troops deployed to a city … because a city happened to vote for the opposite party. That’s maybe what happens in other countries. But it doesn’t happen here. Here this is America and we’ve gotta be standing up for these American values.”
I love that he’s calling ICE what they are — “militarized troops”. Tear it down. The public sees what’s happening here very clearly. Even the wiser voices in the White House are seeing that.
