National Progressive Organizations Demand Lawmakers Commit to Abolish ICE

We, the undersigned 11 organizations, write to express our fear and anger regarding the state of our carceral and punitive immigration system. Over the past few months, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE’s) potential for new levels of depravity has been put on display for all to see. However, much of ICE’s cruelty is not new.

ICE was created out of the Islamophobic fear and panic after 9/11. Lawmakers preyed on the nation’s worst impulses to funnel billions of taxpayer dollars into an agency that primarily exists to terrorize vulnerable communities, separate families, and enrich the private prison industrial complex.

Since its inception in 2003, ICE has operated as a rogue agency that has consistently broken local, state, federal, and international laws; evaded substantive oversight and accountability; and engaged in inhumane practices in its detention facilities that fall squarely within the definition of torture. Between January 2019 and June 2024, at least 70 immigrants died in ICE custody¹, 95% of whose deaths were preventable². At the same time, the agency’s budget has more than doubled since its inception, taking an increasing share of taxpayer dollars every year without a modicum of accountability.

The agency’s racist bedrock is further cemented by its highly discriminatory day-to-day operations. Arrests and interrogations are routinely conducted on the basis of skin color alone³; Black immigrants are substantially more likely than their non-Black counterparts to face longer detentions, be placed in solitary confinement, and pay steeper immigration bonds for their release⁴; and ICE has all but continued the eugenic tradition of forcibly sterilizing⁵ primarily Black and Brown⁶ immigrant women.

Even if ICE had spent the past two decades following the law, it has failed to fulfill its purported goal of protecting our communities. The American people have been sold the lie that public safety comes in the form of workplace raids and mass detention from corporations and politicians who seek to profit off of a fundamentally broken system. Reports suggest this big lie has actively eroded public safety rather than bolstering it; local law enforcement partnerships with ICE, such as 287(g) agreements and Secure Communities programs, have been proven to increase community members’ likelihood of violent victimization. Furthermore, the agency has illegally exceeded its scope by detaining anyone who appears to step out of line: international students who hold particular political views, elected officials attempting to hold the institution accountable, and individuals who appear to “fit a description,” regardless of legal status. These individuals pose no threat to public safety, it is the masked agents and the vigilantes whom they have embolded who do.

This is an agency beyond reform. With each year it continues to operate, we will continue to see more extrajudicial kidnappings, more family separation, more community instability, and—on a general level—an immigration system skewed towards punishment and carcerality rather than humanity, security, and understanding. This is true across administrations; regardless of the party in power, ICE has enjoyed a steady increase in funding year over year, lining the pockets of private prison contractors and eating away at resources that could be used to holistically address the more pressing issues our communities face.

The call to abolish ICE is not a new one—it once was a rallying cry that candidates and elected officials tapped into to earn the votes of immigrant communities and their allies. As the violent and immoral mission of ICE has become normalized over time, many of those same lawmakers have fallen silent regarding their original calls for abolition.

We call on Congress to use all available powers and resources to dismantle the immigration detention system and ICE, including opposing an increase in funding for the agency proposed in the current reconciliation bill. History will not look back fondly on leaders who lacked the courage to take a stand against the degradation of human rights and democracy to cling to their positions of power. We demand that you use your authority and influence to phase out ICE, rebuke every aspect of the Trump administration’s illegal mass deportation campaign, and commit to a future guarantee of safety and dignity for all immigrant communities.