Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.) introduced legislation Tuesday that would fundamentally restructure U.S. immigration enforcement, abolishing both Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) while dismantling the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The bill, titled the “Reimagining Safety Act,” would replace DHS with a new entity called the Department of Community Safety.
The proposal preserves several non-immigration functions currently housed within DHS, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA). But it would eliminate the agencies responsible for interior enforcement and border security, a move that Ramirez argues is necessary to address what she describes as systemic abuses.
“Every person dead in detention, shot or killed by ICE and CBP, every neighbor deported to a third country, every family separated … is a reason DHS must be dismantled and something new must take its place,” Ramirez said in a statement.
Ramirez, who sits on the House Homeland Security Committee and has been a vocal critic of ICE, has previously called for abolishing the agency and dismantling DHS. Her push gained renewed attention after federal agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens during an immigration operation in Minneapolis in January. Ramirez joined protesters in the city following the shootings.
The bill arrives as President Trump’s immigration agenda faces declining public approval. An AP-NORC poll released Oct. 1 found that only 39 percent of Americans approve of the president’s handling of immigration—a notable drop from its status as a winning issue during the 2024 campaign. Trump allies contend his crackdown on illegal immigration has been effective but that voters are not crediting him for the results. Critics argue that aggressive enforcement targeting both legal and illegal immigrants has alienated the electorate.
Some Democrats have been wary of embracing calls to abolish ICE outright, but the idea has gained traction in the wake of the Minneapolis shootings. A January Economist/YouGov poll found that 46 percent of Americans supported abolishing ICE, compared with 43 percent who opposed it.
The proposal is unlikely to advance in a Republican-controlled Congress, but it signals a growing appetite among progressive Democrats to overhaul the nation’s immigration apparatus. It also comes as Democrats are seeing improved standing in generic ballot polling and expanding favorability advantages over the GOP, according to recent surveys.
Ramirez’s legislation would not only eliminate ICE and CBP but also restructure the broader national security bureaucracy. By preserving FEMA and TSA under a new department, the bill aims to separate immigration enforcement from emergency management and transportation security—functions that Ramirez and her allies argue have been tainted by association with the Trump administration’s hardline policies.
The bill’s introduction underscores the widening divide within the Democratic Party over how far to go in reimagining immigration enforcement. While some moderates have resisted abolition calls, progressive lawmakers like Ramirez are pushing for a sweeping break from the status quo, betting that voter sentiment is shifting in their direction.
