‘Abolish ICE,’ the movement that seeks to dismantle Trump’s immigration police

In Donald Trump’s United States, where immigration agents have fatally shot two citizens in the past three weeks, calls are growing to shut down the agency tasked with carrying out the anti-immigrant crusade launched by the White House. The Abolish ICE movement is not new, but in recent weeks it has gained unprecedented momentum as citizens demand the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The effort to dismantle the agency has divided not only Democrats and Republicans in Congress, but also the Democrats among themselves, amid a debate over whether to defund, eliminate, or simply redirect ICE’s tactics, especially now that another federal government shutdown is at stake.

However, on the streets of cities besieged by Trump’s immigration agents, the demand is more drastic and unambiguous: people are calling for the disbanding of the agency responsible for the recent deaths that have shaken the nation. “ICE must be abolished and replaced with systems that prioritize due process, community safety, and human rights,” states the group Abolish ICE Georgia, which coordinates student walkouts in that state and peaceful protests as part of the national movement to abolish the agency. “In practice, ICE has functioned as a punitive law enforcement agency rather than a public safety agency, targeting immigrant communities through fear, surveillance, and detention, instead of addressing serious threats.”

The toll of ICE’s crusade continues to rise: the latest victims are Renee Good and Alex Pretti, shot dead in the streets of Minneapolis; Good by an ICE agent and Pretti by Border Patrol officers. But the crackdown also includes the detention of five-year-old Liam Conejo Ramos and at least four other children from Minnesota; the more than 70,000 people held in detention centers, some caught in surprise immigration raids; the 32 deaths in custody throughout 2025, and the six recorded in the first days of 2026, among them Geraldo Lunas Campos, a 55-year-old Cuban, allegedly murdered in a Texas facility.

Recent events in Minneapolis have made it clear that not even American citizens are immune to the pervasive violence in the country, leading people to take to the streets with the direct demand to abolish ICE. While a July poll by The Economist/YouGov found that only 27% of respondents supported abolishing ICE, the results of the same survey conducted a few days ago confirm that opinions have shifted: 46% now support the elimination of the best-funded federal agency in U.S. history. With his tax and spending reform, dubbed the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” Trump added $75 billion to the agency’s existing $11 billion budget.

Merriam, a Chicago resident who prefers to remain anonymous and has joined the call to end ICE in her community, says there are far better ways the government could spend taxpayer money. “Economic inequality, fascism, and the upward transfer of wealth go hand-in-hand. The way our money is used to fund oppression and violence in America does not reflect what most people want. With that money, we could forgive student loans, reduce chronic illnesses, and empower future generations. Abolishing ICE is crucial and represents one of the most important acts toward restoring humanity,” she insists.

The desire of some to see the demise of an agency they have dubbed “the modern-day Gestapo” has intensified in recent weeks, but it’s a call that dates back to the Obama administration, when the Democratic president launched a historic deportation campaign. The Abolish ICE movement once again became a focus of public outcry in 2018 when family separations became the central issue for many activists and politicians during the first Trump term. Among the most outspoken was New York representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who at the time made immigration a key part of her campaign and demanded the dismantling of ICE.

During Joe Biden’s administration attention was centered on the border crisis and less on the agency. But now, the call to abolish ICE has resurfaced with much greater force.

Abolish or reform

The continued existence of the agency is at the center of a heated debate in Washington and across the country. Republicans insist it is a body meant to guarantee national security, despite the fact that the aforementioned poll shows 47% of Americans believe ICE actually makes them feel less safe. Some Democrats, meanwhile, unequivocally advocate for abolishing immigration enforcement, especially after the deaths of Pretti and Good and following Trump’s threat to invoke the Insurrection Act to deploy the military against the protests sparked by the recent killings, which the government has attempted to justify.

Democratic Representative Shri Thanedar of Michigan introduced an ICE Abolition Act, arguing that Good’s murder “proved that ICE is out of control and beyond reform.” “We must fundamentally change the way we approach immigration: it’s time to abolish ICE,” the representative for Michigan’s 13th Congressional District said in a statement. If enacted, the bill would prohibit the use of federal funds “to carry out any of the functions, duties, or responsibilities assigned or delegated to the Director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement pursuant to the Homeland Security Act of 2002.” Others, such as Democratic Representative Delia Ramirez of Illinois, have also advocated for defunding the agency.

However, now that both parties are negotiating the fiscal year 2026 budget for the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, some Democrats continue to advocate for reforming the agency rather than abolishing it. They propose, for example, requiring agents to wear body cameras, not masks, and undergo additional training. The House of Representatives passed a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security of approximately $64.4 billion and $10 billion for ICE, which received the support of seven Democrats. The package will now go to the Senate.

Following Pretti’s death, some Democratic senators have stated they will not vote in favor of funding as long as ICE continues to operate as it does. “What’s happening in Minnesota is appalling — and unacceptable in any American city,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said Saturday on X. “Democrats sought common sense reforms in the Department of Homeland Security spending bill, but because of Republicans’ refusal to stand up to President Trump, the DHS bill is woefully inadequate to rein in the abuses of ICE. I will vote no.”

Until now, the Democratic argument for supporting ICE funding was based on the idea that eliminating the agency entirely would ultimately benefit Republicans. “Every call to abolish ICE risks squandering one of the clearest opportunities in years to achieve meaningful immigration enforcement reform, while giving Republicans exactly the battle they want,” Third Way, a centrist think tank based in Washington, said in a memo.

While politicians from both parties play their cards before Friday night — the deadline for the partial government shutdown — ordinary citizens continue to demand the elimination of the agency responsible for bringing terror to neighborhoods across the country. “ICE has never fit into what a safe, inclusive, and progressive society stands for. It must go,” Merriam says from Chicago. “The physical, psychological, and emotional toll that ICE has taken on communities is immeasurable. It’s important to note that a single act of terror by a government agency should be grounds for freezing its funding; ICE has committed countless such acts.”

Sign up for our weekly newsletter to get more English-language news coverage from EL PAÍS USA Edition