House Democrats have prepared legislation to terminate Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
According to the Washington Post, Wisconsin Democrat Rep. Mark Pocan is the author of the “Abolish ICE” bill that would both pull the plug on ICE and promulgate another legislative body composed of legislators and immigration policy activists to consider how the federal government should assess and process illegal immigrants.
The Post says Pocan’s bill was distributed to House Dems after the July 4 break. The bill hasn’t been tabled yet but is being assessed the Democrats’ legal and policy team. It will be co-sponsored by Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) and Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY). Both are immigrants.
Pocan told the Post that the bill wouldn’t overturn all immigration laws but just remove ICE from the process.
“The ICE brand has been so damaged by the president that it can no longer accomplish its original mission,” Pocan told the Post. “Even ICE agents recognize that ICE doesn’t do what it was intended to.”
Although some liberal Democrats have equated ICE to extremist or even terrorist organizations, the abolition of ICE has yet to become official Democratic policy. But if Democrats think they have a winning midterm plan, a new poll from Politico shows that only 25 percent of registered voters want ICE abolished.
(RELATED: Poll Indicates Few Americans Support Abolition Of ICE)
The special commission that Pocan imagines to create a replacement for ICE would consist of eight bipartisan legislators as well as nine people selected from the “major civil society and immigrants’ rights organizations and individuals directly impacted by ICE practices.”
Pocan does not envision any role for the President in the process.