House Democrats have introduced legislation aimed at eliminating Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Introduced Thursday, the bill from Reps. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., comes amid uproar over immigration raids conducted by ICE officials under the Trump administration and the separation of children from their parents at the southern border.
A growing number of Democrats have been calling to abolish ICE, which was established in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.
“President Trump’s blanket directive to round up and target all undocumented immigrants underscores the unchecked power which ICE has used to terrorize our communities,” Pocan said in a statement. “From conducting raids at garden centers and meatpacking plants, to targeting families outside churches and schools, the President is using ICE as a mass-deportation force to rip apart the moral fabric of our nation.”
[More: Trump attacks Democrats’ ‘abolish ICE’ talk amid immigration deadlock]
Pocan’s bill, called the Establishing a Humane Immigration Enforcement System Act, would create a commission to provide guidance to Congress on implementing a “humane immigration enforcement system” and direct Congress to follow the commission’s recommendations.
ICE would sunset within one year of the bill’s enactment.
The bill also has six Democratic co-sponsors.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., rebuked the campaign to abolish ICE on Thursday, calling it “the craziest position I have ever seen.”
Ryan said the efforts to get rid of the immigration agency bolsters Republicans’ chances heading into the November elections.
