Legislation being drafted by Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., to eradicate U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement would dissolve the agency within a year of enactment and would establish a bipartisan group to decide which agencies would manage necessary ICE functions, according to a new report.
Congressional and minority party leaders would appoint eight members to the group. Nine members from the “major civil society and immigrants’ rights organizations and individuals directly impacted by ICE practices” would also be included in the group, the Washington Post reports.
Additionally, measure requires that “total federal employment is not reduced with the abolition of ICE.”
[Related: These Democrats want to abolish ICE]
The legislation, which has been distributed to House Democrats and is co-sponsored by Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Rep. Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y, also calls for an investigation into whether ICE agents disregarded international law.
Pocan said that current immigration laws would be enforced from the measure, as he noted that ICE has drifted from its founding principles.
“The ICE brand has been so damaged by the president that it can no longer accomplish its original mission,” Pocan said, per the Washington Post. “Even ICE agents recognize that ICE doesn’t do what it was intended to.”
Pocan announced in June that he would be releasing legislation targeting the agency.
“During my trip to the southern border, it was clear that ICE, and its actions of hunting down and tearing apart families, has wreaked havoc on far too many people,” Pocan said in a statement in June. “From conducting raids at garden centers and meatpacking plants, to breaking up families at churches and schools, ICE is tearing apart families and ripping at the moral fabric of our nation. Unfortunately, President Trump and his team of white nationalists, including Stephen Miller, have so misused ICE that the agency can no longer accomplish its goals effectively.”
“I’m introducing legislation that would abolish ICE and crack down on the agency’s blanket directive to target and round up individuals and families,” he added. “The heartless actions of this abused agency do not represent the values of our nation and the U.S. must develop a more humane immigration system, one that treats every person with dignity and respect.”
[More: Trump attacks Democrats’ ‘abolish ICE’ talk amid immigration deadlock]
ICE has come under scrutiny recently due to the Trump administration’s zero tolerance policy to prosecute all illegal immigrants, which resulted in thousands of children being separated from their accompanying adults.
In response, Trump signed an executive order last month to prevent the splitting up of apprehended immigrant families.
Democrats, including Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Democratic House candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, have also backed abolishing ICE.
Editor’s Note: This story has been edited to reflect that the bipartisan group would not replace ICE, but would determine which agencies would manage necessary ICE duties.
