Despite calls from the Left in recent years to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the federal agency is expected to go largely untouched by the incoming Biden administration, according to immigration experts.
“Biden is not going to abolish ICE because he’s an institutionalist who will focus on depoliticizing government agencies that became extensions of the Trump administration’s policymaking apparatus,” Cris Ramon, an immigration policy consultant in Washington, wrote in a statement.
The idea of terminating ICE has been endorsed by leading Democrats, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, New York City’s Democratic Mayor Bill de Blasio, and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, of New York. The latter two both ran for president in the 2020 Democratic primary.
But President-elect Joe Biden’s ideas about ICE are a far cry from what activists and progressive Democrats sought from a Democrat-controlled executive branch, especially considering the involvement of Sen. Bernie Sanders in crafting Biden’s immigration plan.
A senior Senate Democratic aide said the idea of Biden shuttering ICE is not at all expected to happen, adding that official planning documents from his transition team have not yet been released. The aide pointed to Biden’s campaign site, which featured a lengthy document that outlines his immigration policy stances and plans. The list includes just two references to ICE, neither of which stated that he would get rid of the agency.
Instead, Biden vowed to “ensure that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) personnel abide by professional standards and are held accountable for inhumane treatment,” as well as devote greater resources for the training and transparency of both agencies.
“The points made there include a 100-day moratorium on deportations … end for-profit detention centers, reform accountability policies, improve training, increase access to counsel with guarantee for children,” and a big push for an alternative to detention, the Senate Democratic staffer said. He would also reinstate the Obama administration program prioritizing the deportation of criminals. “Much of that will be done administratively since the odds look grim in Congress” for legislation, the staffer said.
Ramos expected Biden to narrow ICE’s mission to focus on specific categories of immigrants, a reversal of Trump’s executive actions early on in his term.
He also thinks the Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General will do more work on oversight and accountability.
“That said, I think his efforts to depoliticize the agency will depend on the capacity of new DHS leadership to secure buy-in from agencies like ICE that had wide breadth under the Trump administration to pursue whatever mission it wanted,” Ramos said. “And I think that’s going to be difficult if Biden and DHS leadership face calls from his left flank to completely cut back on enforcement actions.”
ICE was formed in 2003, when Congress stood up DHS in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. It began to face public criticism during the Obama administration as deportation levels soared.
In 2018, the Trump administration mandated all illegal crossers at the southern border be referred for prosecution, forcing Border Patrol agents to separate children from parents. The move further invigorated anti-ICE activists.
The marches, protests, and calls opposing ICE have quieted down over the past two years, but the Democratic official expects behind-the-scenes immigrant advocates and human rights organizations will push Biden for more than he is promising.
“Advocates and the base will hold their feet to the fire,” the official wrote. “The 100-day moratorium will give the Biden folks some time [to] figure out a path forward for ICE based on the temperature from both advocates, Congress, and how the administration handles the issues at the border.”
“The big question lies on what level of enforcement is enough for the Biden Administration,” the official added. “At the end of the day, however, they’ll need Congress to enact changes that persist beyond this administration.”
Migration Policy Institute Director of U.S. Programs Randy Capps pointed out that some of what Biden makes ICE stop doing is also part of his approach.
“The Biden administration will no doubt stop publicly threatening these sanctuary jurisdictions, and ICE will stop launching high-profile retaliatory raids now,” said Capps in a recent call with reporters. “The administration will also likely renegotiate cooperation with these places.”
