‘Abolish ICE’ Is Now Official DNC Policy

The Democratic National Committee adopted a resolution Saturday urging congressional Democrats to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), alongside a competing measure calling only for reforms to the agency, at the party’s summer meeting in Austin, Texas.

The abolition measure, known as Resolution 27, cleared the DNC’s Resolutions Committee on Thursday in a 25-12 vote with one abstention before heading to the full membership, Newsweek reported. Both resolutions were bundled into a larger package and approved by the full membership on a unanimous voice vote, according to the Washington Times. The vote is nonbinding and does not change the party platform for 2028.

The reform measure, sponsored by DNC Chairman Ken Martin, drew broader support in committee than the abolition proposal.

The vote comes amid internal party debates over immigration policy ahead of this year’s midterm elections as President Donald Trump expands deportation efforts. In July, border czar Tom Homan said ICE was on schedule to set arrest records for a second consecutive month and described the push as “deportation-maxxing.”

The resolution calls on Democratic members of Congress to enact legislation dissolving ICE and winding down the immigration detention system. It seeks to restrict Department of Homeland Security funding unless certain enforcement activities end, including workplace raids, mass roundups, arrests at courthouses, arrests at ICE check-ins, and actions near schools and houses of worship. It also calls for terminating contracts with private detention providers.

Martin said official party platforms are set every four years at the national convention, and argued Democrats are still united in opposing the administration’s enforcement approach even as they split over what should replace it.

“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 and the federal government should stop. There has to be a better way.”

The White House criticized the action. Spokeswoman Lauren Bis told Newsweek on Saturday:

“Extreme radical Democrats want to abolish ICE and defund the police. 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, pedophiles, 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.”

The resolution also calls for closing detention facilities, releasing most immigration detainees, and expanding civil rights oversight.

Michele Johnson, a DNC member from Louisiana who proposed the abolition measure, said Democrats need to take a clear position, pointing to the dissolution of ICE’s predecessor agency, the Immigration and Naturalization Service, as precedent, according to the Associated Press.

“I think one of the reasons why people are not trusting the party is because we sound so academic,” she said. “We sound focus group tested, we sound poll tested because we’re worried about saying the wrong thing or doing the wrong thing and not just like, just stand on business, like take a position.”

DNC member Yvonne Reeves-Chong voted against it, saying it would win over only part of the party’s base while drawing fire from another group of voters, according to the AP.

“I would strongly suggest we get to the business of winning races so we can make the policies that make a difference,” she said.

Earlier this year, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stopped short of calling for ICE’s elimination while demanding reforms such as banning face coverings for agents, requiring visible identification, and restricting enforcement near schools and churches.

Polling suggests voters are focused elsewhere. Marquette Law School’s most recent national survey, released August 5, found inflation and the cost of living ranked as the top issue for 35% of adults, with immigration and border security at 5% — down from 14% in January.

The same poll found Trump’s overall approval had risen to 40%, his first uptick in a Marquette survey this term, and border security was the only issue on which he cleared 50% approval.

ICE itself remains unpopular. A Marquette survey conducted in late January found 40% of adults approved of the agency’s job performance and 60% disapproved. But the same poll found 56% still favored deporting illegal immigrants, and among that group, 65% approved of ICE’s conduct.

Sarah Pierce, director of social policy at the center-left group Third Way, has argued that immigration should not be Democrats’ first message to voters because it is not their top concern — but that ignoring the issue is also a mistake. Democrats “cannot allow Republicans to be the only party offering a vision” on immigration, she told Newsweek.