Democrats find new deportation messaging after ‘abolish ICE’ backlash

Published August 29, 2025 5:00am ET



MINNEAPOLIS — Democrats are channeling grassroots anger at Immigration and Customs Enforcement with a series of condemnations that stop short of the calls to “abolish ICE” that defined the early anti-Trump resistance.

At their summer gathering in Minnesota this week, members of the Democratic National Committee signaled the strategy they will take to oppose Trump’s immigration agenda — denouncing the administration’s deportation tactics while steering clear of the Left’s desire to dismantle the agency Republicans have expanded with their megabill.

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