Democrats unveil bill to eliminate ICE

Plan doomed in House, but activists aim to energize voters

WASHINGTON — Liberal Democrats on Thursday unveiled doomed legislation aimed at abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, their eyes focused on galvanizing voters for the midterm elections. The House’s top Republican scoffed that the measure makes him “feel very good” about November.

The dueling view of the bill’s potential impact is the latest example of how immigration looms as an issue this fall, when Democrats hope to wrest control of the House and perhaps the Senate from the GOP. Public concern over the problem shows no signs of receding soon, as the Trump administration struggles to reunite more than 2,000 migrant children they’ve separated from parents caught entering the U.S. illegally.

“It’s the craziest position I’ve ever seen, and they are just tripping over themselves to move too far to the left,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters Thursday about the Democrats’ bill. “They’re out of the mainstream of America, and that’s one of the reasons why I feel very good about this fall.”

The proposal to eliminate ICE has no chance of going anywhere in the GOP-run House. But for liberal Democratic activists, the agency has become a symbol of President Donald Trump’s aggressive enforcement of immigration laws, and abolishing it has morphed into a campaign rallying cry.

“The president is using ICE as a mass-deportation force to rip apart the moral fabric of our nation,” said Rep. Mark Pocan, D-Wis., a lead sponsor.

While many liberals say ICE has terrified the immigrant community by abusively conducting roundups outside schools and job sites, Republicans say it helps curb crime and illegal drugs. Republicans and some Democrats see abolition as political overreach that will help the GOP paint Democratic candidates as extremists.