Politics
‘Abolish ICE’ messaging is back. Is it any more likely this time?
WASHINGTON — “Abolish ICE.”
Democratic lawmakers and candidates for office around the country increasingly are returning to the phrase, popularized during the first Trump administration, as they react to this administration’s forceful immigration enforcement tactics.
The fatal shooting of 37-year-old Renee Nicole Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent this month in Minneapolis sparked immediate outrage among Democratic officials, who proposed a variety of oversight demands — including abolishing the agency — to rein in tactics they view as hostile and sometimes illegal.
Resurrecting the slogan is perhaps the riskiest approach. Republicans pounced on the opportunity to paint Democrats, especially those in vulnerable seats, as extremists.
An anti-ICE activist in an inflatable costume stands next to a person with a sign during a protest near Legacy Emanuel Hospital on Jan. 10 in Portland, Ore. The demonstration follows the Jan. 7 fatal shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis as well as the shooting of two individuals in Portland on Jan. 8 by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
(Mathieu Lewis-Rolland / Getty Images)
“If their response is to dust off ‘defund ICE,’ we’re happy to take that fight any day of the week,” said Christian Martinez, a spokesperson for the National Republican Congressional Committee. The group has published dozens of press statements in recent weeks accusing Democrats of wanting to abolish ICE — even those who haven’t made direct statements using the phrase.
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) amplified that message Wednesday, writing on social media that “When Democrats say they want to abolish or defund ICE, what they are really saying is they want to go back to the open borders policies of the Biden administration. The American people soundly rejected that idea in the 2024 election.”
The next day, Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) introduced the “Abolish ICE Act,” stating that Good’s killing “proved that ICE is out of control and beyond reform.” The bill would rescind the agency’s “unobligated” funding and redirect other assets to its parent agency, the Department of Homeland Security.
Many Democrats calling for an outright elimination of ICE come from the party’s progressive wing. Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said in a television interview the agency should be abolished because actions taken by its agents are “racist” and “rogue.” Jack Schlossberg, who is running for a House seat in New York, said that “if Trump’s ICE is shooting and kidnapping people, then abolish it.”
Other prominent progressives have stopped short of saying the agency should be dismantled.
A pair of protesters set up signs memorializing people who have been arrested by ICE, or have died in detention, at a rally in front of the Federal Building in Los Angeles on Friday.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Sen. Alex Padilla, (D-Calif.) who last year was forcefully handcuffed and removed from a news conference hosted by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, joined a protest in Washington to demand justice for Good, saying “It’s time to get ICE and CBP out,” referring to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
“This is a moment where all of us have to be forceful to ensure that we are pushing back on what is an agency right now that is out of control,” Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee, said on social media. “We have to be loud and clear that ICE is not welcome in our communities.”
Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Corona) said Democrats seeking to abolish ICE “want to go back to the open borders policies of the Biden administration.”
(Jose Luis Magana / Associated Press)
Others have eyed negotiations over the yearly Homeland Security budget as a leverage point to incorporate their demands, such as requiring federal agents to remove their masks and to turn on their body-worn cameras when on duty, as well as calling for agents who commit crimes on the job to be prosecuted. Seventy House Democrats, including at least 13 from California, backed a measure to impeach Noem.
Rep. Mike Levin (D-San Diego), who serves on the House Committee on Appropriations, said his focus is not on eliminating the agency, which he believes has an “important responsibility” but has been led astray by Noem.
He said Noem should be held to account for her actions through congressional oversight hearings, not impeachment — at least not while Republicans would be in control of the proceedings, since he believes House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) would make a “mockery” of them.
“I am going to use the appropriations process,” Levin said, adding that he would “continue to focus on the guardrails, regardless of the rhetoric.”
Chuck Rocha, a Democratic political strategist, said Republicans seized on the abolitionist rhetoric as a scare tactic to distract from the rising cost of living, which remains another top voter concern.
“They hope to distract [voters] by saying, ‘Sure, we’re going to get better on the economy — but these Democrats are still crazy,’” he said.
Dozens of Angelenos and D.C.-area organizers, along with local activists, rally in front of the Federal Building in downtown Los Angeles on Friday. Democrats have for years struggled to put forward a unified vision on immigration — one of the top issues that won President Trump a return to the White House.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
Democrats have for years struggled to put forward a unified vision on immigration — one of the top issues that won President Trump a return to the White House. Any deal to increase guardrails on Homeland Security faces an uphill battle in the Republican-controlled Congress, leaving many proposals years away from the possibility of fruition. Even if Democrats manage to block the yearly funding bill, the agency still has tens of billions of dollars from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Still, the roving raids, violent clashes with protesters and detentions and deaths of U.S. citizens and immigrants alike increased the urgency many lawmakers feel to do something.
Two centrist groups released memos last week written by former Homeland Security officials under the Biden administration urging Democrats to avoid the polarizing language and instead channel their outrage into specific reforms.
“Every call to abolish ICE risks squandering one of the clearest opportunities in years to secure meaningful reform of immigration enforcement — while handing Republicans exactly the fight they want,” wrote the authors of one memo, from the Washington-based think tank Third Way.
“Advocating for abolishing ICE is tantamount to advocating for stopping enforcement of all of our immigration laws in the interior of the United States — a policy position that is both wrong on the merits and at odds with the American public on the issue,” wrote Blas Nuñez-Neto, a senior policy fellow at the new think tank the Searchlight Institute who previously was assistant Homeland Security secretary.
Roughly 46% of Americans said they support the idea of abolishing ICE, while 43% are opposed, according to a YouGov/Economist poll released last week.
Sarah Pierce, a former policy analyst at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services who co-wrote the Third Way memo, said future polls might show less support for abolishing the agency, particularly if the question is framed as a choice among options including reforms such as banning agents from wearing masks or requiring use of body cameras.
“There’s no doubt there will be further tragedies and with each, the effort to take an extreme position like abolishing ICE increases,” she said.
Laura Hernandez, executive director of Freedom for Immigrants, a California-based organization that advocates for the closure of detention centers, said the increase in lawmakers calling to abolish ICE is long overdue.
“We need lawmakers to use their power to stop militarized raids, to close detention centers and we need them to shut down ICE and CBP,” she said. “This violence that people are seeing on television is not new, it’s literally built into the DNA of DHS.”
Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-Mich.) introduced the “Abolish ICE Act.”
(Paul Sancya / Associated Press)
Cinthya Martinez, a UC Santa Cruz professor who has studied the movement to abolish ICE, noted that it stems from the movement to abolish prisons. The abolition part, she said, is watered down by mainstream politicians even as some liken immigration agents to modern-day slave patrols.
Martinez said the goal is about more than simply getting rid of one agency or redirecting its duties to another. She pointed out that alongside ICE agents have been Border Patrol, FBI and ATF agents.
“A lot of folks forget that prison abolition is to completely abolish carceral systems. It comes from a Black tradition that says prison is a continuation of slavery,” she said.
But Peter Markowitz, a law professor and co-director of the Immigration Justice Clinic at the Cardozo School of Law, said the movement to abolish ICE around 2018 among mainstream politicians was always about having effective and humane immigration enforcement, not about having none.
“But it fizzled because it didn’t have an answer to the policy question that follows: If not ICE, then what?” he said. “I hope we’re in a different position today.”
Politics
Democrats demand Kristi Noem be fired or warn impeachment will follow
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House Democrats ramped up pressure on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday, calling for her firing and warning that impeachment proceedings would follow if she remains in office, citing deadly actions by federal agents in Minnesota.
The calls came from both House Democratic leadership and Judiciary Committee Democrats, marking a coordinated escalation from public condemnation to formal impeachment threats.
In a joint statement, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar accused the Trump administration of using federal law enforcement to carry out deadly violence.
“Taxpayer dollars are being weaponized by the Trump administration to kill American citizens, brutalize communities and violently target law-abiding immigrant families,” the leaders said. “The country is disgusted by what the Department of Homeland Security has done.”
NOEM SAYS SHE GRIEVES FOR FAMILY AFTER CBP-RELATED SHOOTING IN MINNEAPOLIS, VOWS THOROUGH INVESTIGATION
House Democrats ramped up pressure on DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday. ( Al Drago/Getty Images)
The leaders warned that unless Noem is removed, impeachment proceedings would follow.
“Kristi Noem should be fired immediately, or we will commence impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives,” the statement said.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
The demands come as Noem faces widespread criticism after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota this month.
Separately, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, called on Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to immediately begin impeachment proceedings if Noem is not fired or forced to resign.
“Unless Secretary Noem resigns or is fired, the Judiciary Committee’s Chairman, Jim Jordan, should immediately commence House Judiciary Committee impeachment proceedings to remove her from office,” Raskin said.
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Federal agents try to clear demonstrators near a hotel, using tear gas during a noise demonstration protest in response to federal immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis. (Adam Gray/AP Photo)
Raskin accused Noem of overseeing what he described as unlawful killings and a subsequent cover-up.
“Far from condemning these unlawful and savage killings in cold blood, Secretary Noem immediately labeled Renée Good and Alex Pretti ‘domestic terrorists,’ blatantly lied about the circumstances of the shootings that took their lives, and attempted to cover up and blockade any legitimate investigation into their deaths,” he said.
Separately, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., called on Trump to fire Noem directly on Tuesday.
In a post on X, the senator accused Noem of “betraying” the department’s central mission.
In a joint statement with other Democratic leaders, Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., accused the Trump administration of using federal law enforcement to carry out deadly violence. (Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)
However, President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that he has no plans to ask Noem to step down from her role.
Trump was asked about Noem’s status during a gaggle with reporters outside the White House. He told the press that he still thinks Noem is doing a “great job.”
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“Is Kristi Noem going to step down?” a reporter asked.
“No,” Trump responded bluntly.
He later said he believes she is doing a “very good job,” citing her role in closing down the border.
Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
Politics
Trump signs executive order to ‘preempt’ permitting process for fire-destroyed homes in L.A.
President Trump has announced an executive order to allow victims of the Los Angeles wildfires to rebuild without dealing with “unnecessary, dupicative, or obstructive” permitting requirements.
The order, which is likely to be challenged by the city and state, claimed that local governments have failed to adequately process permits and were slowing down residents who are desperate to rebuild in the Palisades and Altadena.
“American families and small businesses affected by the wildfires have been forced to continue living in a nightmare of delay, uncertainty, and bureaucratic malaise as they remain displaced from their homes, often without a source of income, while state and local governments delay or prevent reconstruction by approving only a fraction of the permits needed to rebuild,” Trump wrote in the executive order, which he signed Friday.
The order called on the Secretary of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to “preempt” state and local permitting authorities.
Instead of going through the usual approval process, residents using federal emergency funds to rebuild would need to self-certify to federal authorities that they have complied with local health and safety standards.
The order comes as the city and county approach 3,000 permits issued for rebuilding. A December review by The Times found that the permitting process in Altadena and Pacific Palisades was moving at a moderate rate compared to other major fires in California. As of Dec. 14, the county had issued rebuilding permits for about 16% of the homes destroyed in the Eaton fire and the city had issued just under 14% for those destroyed in the Palisades fire.
While Mayor Karen Bass did not immediately provide comment, the executive order drew intense pushback from Gov. Gavin Newsom.
A spokesperson for Newsom, Tara Gallegos, called Trump a “clueless idiot” for believing the federal government could issue local rebuilding permits.
“With 1625+ home permits issued, hundreds of homes under construction, and permitting timelines at least 2x faster than before the fires, an executive order to rebuild Mars would do just as useful,” Gov. Gavin Newsom wrote in a post on X, citing the number of permits issued solely by the city of Los Angeles.
Newsom said that the federal government needed to release funding, not take over control of the permitting process. The governor said that what communities really lack is money, not permits.
“Please actually help us. We are begging you,” Newsom wrote.
Instead of descending into the permitting process, Newsom called on the president to send a recovery package to congress to help families rebuild, citing a letter from a bipartisan delegation of California legislators that called for federal funding.
“As the recovery process continues, additional federal support is needed, and our entire delegation looks forward to working cooperatively with your administration to ensure the communities of Southern California receive their fair share of federal disaster assistance,” wrote the California legislators on Jan 7.
Los Angeles City Councilwoman Traci Park, who represents Pacific Palisades, responded in a statement that read: “If the federal government is interested in expediting recovery from the most expensive disaster in this country’s history, they can start by committing to real financial support — to close insurance gaps, to repair critical infrastructure damaged in both the fire and the debris removal process, to help this region rebuild two entire communities from the ground up.”
Park also said that “dangling SBA loans and hazard mitigation funding in front of victims while summarily denying FEMA claim and other support to municipalities behind the scenes is subterfuge, not support. The City can only approve permits that have been submitted and the reality is that many disaster victims are still not ready to move forward with their rebuilds. This federal government can fix that by allowing desperately needed financial assistance to flow down to the Los Angeles region and let us get to work.”
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who represents Altadena, said she would “welcome any effort to responsibly accelerate rebuilding.”
Barger said permits take 30 days to move through the county’s plan check, but often encounter delays due to “complex multi-party work of architects, engineers, and builders.”
She also called for more federal funding and long-term disaster aid.
“The most urgent need in the Altadena region is financially driven,” she said in a statement to The Times.
Some in the Palisades agreed that money was a bigger issue than permitting.
“When I talk to people it seems to have more to do with their insurance payout or whether they have enough money to complete construction,” said Maryam Zar, a Palisades resident who runs the Palisades Recovery Coalition.
Zar called the executive order “interesting” and said that it was fair of the president to call the recovery pace slow and unacceptable.
Jonathan Zasloff, a UCLA Law professor who focuses on land use, called the executive order “childish and irresponsible policy.”
Zasloff, who lost his Palisades home in the fire, said that the president does not have the authority to get rid of state and local law just because he doesn’t like them. Instead, Zasloff said, the president should focus on fully funding disaster recovery so that the city and county can have adequate staff to process permit applications.
“My house burned down in the Palisades. Getting rid of the building codes would make it easier to rebuild something, but it could also make things a lot more dangerous,” he said.
Politics
Mamdani’s early moves as mayor clash with affordability pledge: ‘Ripple effects are significant’
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New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani ran on a message of making the Big Apple more affordable for everyday Americans, but some of his actions in the first few weeks of his tenure have served to undercut that reality.
In the early days of his time as mayor, Mamdani has already shown a penchant for vehemently defending low-wage, unskilled delivery-app workers in a manner that industry executives and business experts think will hit consumers’ pocketbooks. He sued a delivery app startup earlier this month for allegedly violating the city’s worker-rights laws, and warned the broader range of delivery app companies operating in the city to abide by ramped up worker rights being imposed at the end of the month, or else.
At a press conference announcing the lawsuit and accompanying demand letters issued to delivery app companies warning them to follow the updated worker protections, Mamdani also accused the delivery-app startup, MotoClick, of stealing workers’ tips. Among the reforms Mamdani has signaled he plans to vigorously enforce is a mandated tipping framework that estimates show could push more than half-a-billion in additional costs on consumers annually.
The updated protections will also add more delivery-app companies, such as those that deliver groceries, to the list that must follow the delivery-app worker rights laws, including a mandated minimum wage higher than what some emergency medical services (EMS) personnel in the city make.
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Zesty is now in beta in San Francisco and New York as DoorDash tests and refines its personalized matching experience. (iStock)
“We know affordability is not just about the cost of goods — it’s about the dignity of work,” Mamdani’s Commissioner of the Department of Consumer and Worker Protection (DCWP) Sam Levine told companies including DoorDash, GrubHub and Uber. “Today’s lawsuit against Motoclick is not just an action against one company, it’s a warning to every app-based company from this Administration. You cannot treat workers like they are expendable and get away with it. We will seek full back pay and damages. We will seek full accountability.”
Mamdani pointed to a recent report put out by Levine, which showed disobeying city mandates going into effect later this month, requiring apps to give the opportunity for customers to tip before or at the same time that an order has been placed, significantly impacts the amount of incoming tip revenue. Levine’s report that Mamdani touted estimates alternative tipping frameworks, such as only allowing tips upon completion of a delivery, have altered tipping revenue by an estimated $550 million per year.
Mamdani also stood by in tacit agreement during the press conference as delivery-app worker advocates called for an increase to their already mandated minimum wage they have that is approximately $4.50 higher for delivery-app drivers than the city’s base minimum wage of $17 per hour. The workers said they wanted a mandate that they get paid $35 per hour, to which Mamdani replied: “closed mouths don’t get fed.”
Mamdani campaigned on raising the base minimum wage to $30 per hour for all New Yorkers by 2030.
New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani at a press conference defending worker rights for delivery-app drivers on Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, his eager enforcement to protect delivery-app drivers will include making sure a wider breadth of delivery-app companies, such as those who deliver groceries like InstaCart and Shipt, abide by New York City’s extended minimum wage laws for their workers – plus the other mandates related to the tipping structure and more.
DCWP has indicated plans to set a minimum pay rate for all delivery apps by early 2027.
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“The challenges facing delivery workers, small businesses, and consumers are real, and deeply interconnected. That’s why this issue cannot be reduced to a single policy lever or viewed in isolation,” a spokesperson for the Bronx Chamber of Commerce told Fox News Digital. “Small businesses across the Bronx and throughout New York City are already under extraordinary pressure. When additional costs are layered on without a full economic analysis, those costs are predictably passed down to consumers or absorbed through reduced hours, reduced staffing, or closures. When businesses close, communities lose jobs, services, and economic anchors, and the ripple effects are significant.”
The Chamber of Commerce spokesperson added that Mamdani has an opportunity “to lead by tackling affordability in a holistic way,” which they said would require “comprehensive cost analysis and coordinated solutions that support workers while ensuring the small business ecosystem and consumer affordability are not unintentionally harmed.”
Signage reading ‘Days of a New Era’ is juxtaposed behind New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani during a press conference he attended about reining in ‘junk fees.’ (Adam Gray/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
When reached for comment about the discrepancy between Mamdani’s message of making New York City more affordable for everyone, versus his push to protect delivery-app worker rights that could impact consumer pricing, a New York City Hall spokesperson argued that “the insinuation that putting more money in the pockets of delivery workers undercuts affordability is absurd.”
“Delivery Workers are important members of our city’s economy, and deserve to be paid fairly – anything less is unacceptable,” the spokesperson added. “As Mayor Mamdani continues to stand up for everyday New Yorkers and actualize his ambitious agenda to make New York City truly livable for families. Affordability has been, and will continue to be, a guiding light.”
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But DoorDash’s head of public policy for North America, John Horton, said that ensuring delivery-app workers “earn double what many first responders in the city make” is not a policy solution they believe will make New York City more affordable. Currently, a local fire technician and emergency medical services union in the city is in the midst of a public awareness campaign to raise their wages because they make less than delivery-app drivers at $18.94 per hour.
Delivery-app workers in New York City must be paid $21.44 per hour according to local worker protection mandates. (iStock)
“A thriving New York will take a partnership between elected officials, the business community and workers to ensure we are all working in the best interests of New Yorkers in the midst of the city’s affordability crisis,” Horton added.
Fox News Digital followed up with Mamdani’s campaign to inquire about the complaint that EMS and some firemen in the city are making less than delivery-app workers, but did not receive a response in time for publication.
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