Democrats’ dilemma: Progressive push to 'Abolish ICE' sparks fresh divide in party

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Dems' anti-ICE anger ignites division as progressives push defunding

Democratic strategist and attorney Julian Epstein and Endeavor PAC founder Tiffany Smiley discuss Democrats' division and political risks on ‘America Reports.’

Calls to abolish ICE by some progressive Democrats are sparking a new divide in the party, as center-left groups warn about a political backlash and instead urge messaging to reform the Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.

"We must reform ICE. But it looks at this stage, folks, ICE is beyond reform," Democratic Rep. Shri Thanedar told reporters on Wednesday. "ICE is totally out of control, and this week I intend to introduce a bill to abolish ICE."

Thanedar spoke one week after a fatal shooting of a Minnesota woman by an ICE agent went viral, sparking protests and a national debate over the agency's efforts to carry out President Donald Trump's push for the mass deportation of millions of undocumented migrants.

Trump on Thursday warned that if Minnesota's political leaders don't stop what he argued were "professional agitators and insurrectionists from attacking the Patriots of I.C.E., who are only trying to do their job, I will institute the INSURRECTION ACT, which many Presidents have done before me, and quickly put an end to the travesty that is taking place."

TRUMP'S WARNING TO MINNESOTA AMID PROTESTS OVER ICE SHOOTING

People march during a protest after the fatal shooting of Renee Good by an ICE agent, on Jan. 8, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Getty Images)

The center-left think tank The Third Way cautions Democrats to avoid calls to abolish ICE.

"The impulse is emotional," reads their memo. "The slogan is simple. But politically, it is lethal. Every call to abolish ICE risks squandering one of the clearest opportunities in years to secure meaningful reform of immigration enforcement — while handing Republicans exactly the fight they want."

And Adam Jentleson, president and founder of the center-left Searchlight Institute and former chief of staff for Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, took to social media to emphasize that any call to abolish ICE "is and always will be a political albatross. I don’t care if it gets a bump into positive territory given the horrific stuff we’ve seen — it’ll fall back and remain a drag."

PROTESTERS CLASH WITH FEDERAL OFFICERS AFTER ANOTHER ICE SHOOTING IN MINNEAPOLIS

An ICE agent shot and killed the 37-year-old Renee Good last week during a federal enforcement operation in south Minneapolis. Federal officials have said agents were attempting to make arrests when the woman tried to use her vehicle as a weapon against officers, prompting an ICE agent to fire in self-defense.

Top Democrats, including Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, criticized the federal account of the incident and rejected the claim that the officer acted in self-defense. Minnesota has since sued the Trump administration, claiming the immigration enforcement surge in the state is "unlawful" and "unprecedented."

Members of law enforcement work the scene following a suspected shooting by an ICE agent during federal operations on Jan. 7, 2026, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)

Good’s death sparked widespread protests in Minneapolis and across the nation, with demonstrators calling for changes to federal immigration enforcement.

"I believe it should be abolished," Democratic Rep. Ayanna Pressley of Massachusetts reiterated in an MS NOW interview on Sunday, as she referred to ICE.

Calls by politicians on the left to abolish ICE are not new.

Progressive champion Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, in a fundraising email obtained last year by Fox News Digital, wrote: "I believe that ICE, an agency that was just formed in 2003 during the Patriot Act era, is a rogue agency that should not exist."

And Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota urged, "Abolish ICE," in a social media post last September.

VOTERS SHARPLY DIVIDED OVER ICE SHOOTING IN MINNESOTA: POLL

But the Third Way compared the phrase to calls to "defund the police" amid massive nationwide protests in 2020 after the fatal shooting of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer. Calls by Democratic politicians to "defund the police" were later seen as explosive ammunition for Republicans to use as a cudgel to bash Democrats at the ballot box.

Defund the police activists flooding the streets of New York City in the summer of 2020. (Getty Images)

"The lesson is clear: when the debate sinks into polarizing slogans that read as anti-law or anti-safety, space for practical reform disappears," The Third Way memo argued.

The Third Way emphasized that Democrats should focus on ending what it called the "unaccountable uses of force" by ICE agents rather than disbanding the agency.

"Immigration laws are meaningless if they are not enforced. And they can be enforced in ways that protect public safety, respect legal norms, and uphold civil liberties. Voters understand this. They responded strongly to what they saw as a lack of enforcement under President Biden. But they are also recoiling from Trump’s excessive force," the memo read.

And making the case for putting ICE on a leash rather than scuttling the agency, Jentleson wrote, "Retraining, fixing the culture. Good. All these things are more popular than 'Abolish ICE.'"

Rather than call for the outright dismantling of the agency, leadership of the Congressional Progressive Caucus this week emphasized it would "oppose all funding" for ICE in any upcoming government appropriations bills without substantial reforms to the agency.

Omar, a vocal Trump critic and frequent target of the president, said that "calling for systematic reforms is not extreme ... this is the bare minimum required to restore safety and justice back to our communities."

As they negotiate with the Republican majority over 2026 funding for the Department of Homeland Security ahead of a Jan. 30 government shutdown deadline, top Democrats are demanding new mandates for ICE agents, including forcing them to wear body cameras and stop wearing masks.

"House Democrats want accountability and oversight of ICE," Rep. Pete Aguilar of California, who is number three in Democratic congressional leadership, told reporters Tuesday.

Pointing to ICE, Aguilar charged, "They are terrorizing people in the streets of this country."

Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota, who is running this year to keep the state's open Senate seat in Democrat hands, during a MS NOW interview likened ICE's efforts in her home state to the "1930's in Germany" under Nazi rule.

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Polls suggest many Americans may agree with the Democrats' efforts to put some political handcuffs on ICE agents.

Four in 10 questioned in a Quinnipiac University poll conducted late last week through Monday said they approved of the way ICE is enforcing immigration laws, while 57% gave the agency a thumbs down on how it's handling its job.

There was a wide partisan divide, with 94% of Democrats and nearly two-thirds of independents disapproving of how ICE is handling its duties, while 84% of Republicans approved of the job ICE agents are doing.

Two other new national polls also spotlight negative opinions of ICE.

By a 51%-31% margin, Americans questioned in a CNN survey said that ICE’s enforcement actions are making cities "less safe" rather than "more safe." And a majority surveyed in a Yahoo poll said that ICE raids in major cities are "doing more harm than good."

But there was a wide partisan divide in both polls.

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Regardless of these latest polls, Trump and his administration are strongly supporting the actions of the ICE agent involved in the Minneapolis shooting and heavily backing the agency.

The right sees the furor over ICE as a law and order issue, and believes that Democrats are on the wrong side of an 80-20 argument.

Trump, in a social media post Thursday, gave ICE a big thumbs up, describing the agency's efforts in Minneapolis as a "highly successful operation."

Fox News' Lindsay Kornick contributed to this report.