Half of Americans support abolishing ICE, according to a poll.
Key Takeaways
- It has been reported that a new national survey finds roughly half of Americans favor abolishing ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement).
- The finding injects fresh momentum into a debate over interior immigration enforcement, detention, and deportations.
- Abolishing ICE would require congressional action; the White House can change enforcement priorities but cannot dissolve the agency on its own.
- For immigrants, any shift could affect arrests inside the U.S., immigration detainers, and the use of detention in removal proceedings.
What the survey says
El País reports that about half of U.S. respondents now back abolishing ICE, an agency within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) tasked with interior immigration enforcement and certain criminal investigations. While details such as sample size, methodology, and partisan breakdown were not immediately available from the report, the headline finding signals that the “abolish ICE” idea—prominent in political debates since 2018—continues to have significant public resonance amid ongoing disputes about immigration enforcement and due process.
What abolishing ICE would and wouldn’t do
ICE houses two major components: Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO), which handles arrests, detention, and deportations inside the United States; and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI), which pursues cross-border criminal cases such as human smuggling and trafficking. “Abolish ICE” proposals vary. Some call for dissolving the agency and reallocating its functions to other parts of DHS or the Justice Department, while narrowing the scope of civil immigration enforcement. Importantly, eliminating or redefining ICE would require Congress to amend the Homeland Security Act and appropriations laws. A president can set enforcement priorities—such as focusing on recent border crossers or people with certain criminal convictions—and adjust detention practices, but cannot unilaterally dismantle the agency.
What this means for immigrants and practitioners right now
For people in the immigration system, the immediate landscape is unchanged: ICE continues to make interior arrests, issue immigration detainers to local jails, place individuals in detention, and litigate removal cases before the immigration courts. However, sustained public pressure and political negotiations could lead to policy shifts that change who is targeted for arrest, how often detention is used, and when prosecutorial discretion is exercised to pause or close cases. Attorneys should monitor local cooperation policies on detainers, evolving DHS guidance on enforcement priorities, and any congressional proposals to restructure ICE or redirect funds—developments that can directly affect bond decisions, alternatives to detention, and the pacing of removal proceedings.
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