'Abolish ICE': Candidates in both parties wield this immigration campaign slogan to excite supporters

Bart Jansen | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON – The campaign slogan to “abolish ICE” has run hot and cold all year.

The rallying cry to eliminate or at least overhaul Immigration and Customs Enforcement proved a potent message during the Democratic primaries as authorities separated immigrant parents who arrived illegally from their children. But the message proved durable for Republicans who argued against lax law enforcement in the midterm campaigns for state and federal government.

Among the Democratic congressional candidates won their primaries with “abolish ICE” as part of their message was Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who knocked off the fourth-ranking Democrat in the House. Randy Bryce campaigned on the issue to win his Wisconsin primary, for a chance at succeeding Republican House Speaker Paul Ryan.

Two Democratic senators running for re-election this year who are also potential presidential candidates in 2020 – Kirsten Gillibrand of New York and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts – took up the banner that political scientists said energized younger voters.

But as the campaign shifted to the general election Nov. 6, Republicans wielded “abolish ICE” as a cudgel against Democrats broadly criticized as lax on law enforcement. President Donald Trump said Republicans would campaign on border security. Vice President Mike Pence gave a speech praising ICE workers. And House Republicans voted to support the agency.

“They aren’t talking past each other – they are colliding,” Richard Bensel, a government professor at Cornell University, said of the immigration debate between Democrats and Republicans.

“I think this is another one of these wedge issues that plays well to both base and unfortunately doesn’t lend itself to solutions,” said Richard Conley, an associate professor of political science at the University of Florida. “The problem is if you say ‘abolish it,’ what are you going to replace it with and how will it work differently or more humanely? That just gives an opening to Republicans who say we’ll have open borders and we’ll have 30 million new people here.”

Ready-made campaign slogan

Sean McElwee, co-founder the progressive think tank Data for Progress, sparked the “abolish ICE” effort with a March story in The Nation magazine. Fueling the fire was the Trump administration’s zero-tolerance policy announced in April, which led to separating more than 2,500 children from their parents and generated widespread outrage before Trump curtailed the policy in June.

The peak of the outcry coincided with primaries where Ocasio-Cortez knocked off Rep. Joe Crowley in New York City. The issue became part of a package of issues, along with “Medicare for all” and “free college,” that galvanized younger voters in federal, state and local races.

“I think that’s something that was really a rallying cry for candidates to say they are a different kind of Democrat,” said Susan Kang, an associate professor of political science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice in New York.

But Republicans also quickly recognized the political value of the slogan. “While I stand before you today at a time when some people are actually calling for the abolition of ICE, in this White House let me be clear, we are with you 100 percent,” Pence told agency staffers in a speech July 6.

Nine House Democrats introduced legislation in July to terminate ICE and replace it with a more humane enforcement system. The legislation noted that ICE has shifted from its “primary mission” set in 2004 to prevent terrorism to detaining and deporting immigrants. The bill’s findings cited critical reports about immigrants suffering medical problems and sexual assaults while in ICE custody.

“Picking up people with speeding tickets is hardly protecting us from domestic terrorism," said Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., who sponsored the legislation. “Instead, they’re sitting in the parking lot at the Head Start program in Beloit, Wis. They're sitting there intimidating parents.”

The bill was also sponsored by Democrats Pramila Jayapal and Adam Smith of Washington; Adriano Espaillat, Jose Serano, Nydia Velazquez and Yvette Clarke of New York; Earl Blumenauer of Oregon and James McGovern of Massachusetts.

Even before the bill got a hearing, House Republican leaders liked the idea of a vote – to support ICE. The nonbinding resolution said abolishing ICE “would mean open borders because it would eliminate the main agency responsible for removing people who enter or remain in our country illegally.”

The resolution was approved July 18 with 244 votes – 226 Republican and 18 Democrats – while 133 Democrats voted “present.”

Trump routinely praises ICE at campaign rallies and calls Democrats the party of crime.

“Democrats want to abolish ICE,” Trump said to boos Oct. 2 in Southaven, Miss. “In other words, they want to abolish immigration enforcement entirely.”

The Liberal Left, also known as the Democrats, want to get rid of ICE, who do a fantastic job, and want Open Borders. Crime would be rampant and uncontrollable! Make America Great Again — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 1, 2018

But Pocan distinguished his bill's goals of overhauling immigration enforcement inside the country with Republican priorities for border security such as building a wall along the border with Mexico.

“That’s the basic lie they put out, which is when someone is saying abolish ICE, they’re talking about open borders," Pocan said. "There’s absolutely nobody I know that is advocating for open borders.”

The issue is a shorthand for candidates such as Gillibrand and Warren in relatively safe seats to reach young, progressive voters. Eliminating family separations and reducing deportations for immigrants who aren't criminals are issues with broad appeal on college campuses, Bensel said.

“You say you want to abolish ICE on campus and there’s almost no counterargument,” Bensel said. “It is a very tolerated and sympathetic response.”

But as the calendar turned this year to competitive races in the general election, Republicans have used the slogan to bludgeon all Democrats.

“On the left, in the primaries, it was really potent,” Bensel said. “In general elections, it’s a real mistake.”

GOP Sen. Ted Cruz has accused his challenger in Texas, Democratic Rep. Beto O’Rourke, of wanting to abolish ICE.

You want a very simple comparison between my opponent and myself?



He wants to abolish ICE.



I want to abolish the IRS. #TXSen — Ted Cruz (@tedcruz) October 3, 2018

But O’Rourke said he hopes to overhaul immigration policy with a bipartisan approach.

“It is the practices,” O’Rourke said. “It is the way in which we are treating our fellow human beings that needs to be changed – and that won’t come with a slogan or a bumper sticker or the abolition of one department.”

In Indiana, Democratic Sen. Joe Donnelly released an ad Oct. 16 distancing himself from the “radical left” that wants to eliminate ICE. He is defending his seat against Republican Mike Braun.

“I support ICE,” Donnelly said.

The governor’s race in Florida is a microcosm of the national debate, with Democrat Andrew Gillum supported by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Republican Ron DeSantis supported by Trump, according to Conley.

DeSantis slams Gillum for wanting to abolish ICE and said in a CNN debate Oct. 21 “that means you’re going to have more crime in Florida.” Gillum said he would like to replace ICE and put it in the Justice Department, rather than the current Department of Homeland Security, for greater “fidelity to the law.”

Pocan said nobody in a competitive race is campaigning on abolishing ICE, but rather focusing on health care and jobs, and against corruption. But the issue commands interest, he said, with ICE raids in Wisconsin last month that arrested 83 people statewide.

“That was not done with the intention of protecting us from domestic terrorism,” Pocan said.

Spurring debate in next Congress

As a new caravan of thousands of immigrants inches to the U.S. from Central America, Trump is again promoting border security. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued a statement Oct. 22 that the country "will not allow illegal immigrants to enter or remain in the United States."

Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador were not able to do the job of stopping people from leaving their country and coming illegally to the U.S. We will now begin cutting off, or substantially reducing, the massive foreign aid routinely given to them. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 22, 2018

Stark divisions in Congress blocked action in 2013 on comprehensive immigration overhaul. But whoever controls the House and Senate in 2019, Pocan hopes the ICE legislation spurs a broader debate about immigration.

“I hope what it starts is a conversation," Pocan said. "This is the focus of this administration about how this agency is used."

Kang said progressive candidates elected with the support of grassroots groups would urge hearings and introduce legislation.

“Whatever happens this midterm, it’s been a really exciting one in which a lot of people who weren’t previously engaged are very, very engaged,” Kang said. “It should be one of these elections for the history books – possibly.”