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By Andrew Stanton
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Calls for the abolition of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) surged after an ICE agent fatally shot Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis on Wednesday.
Newsweek reached out to ICE for comment via email.
Why It Matters
The fatal shooting of Good, a 37-year-old mother, has drawn more scrutiny toward the agency. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has alleged that Good sought to weaponize her vehicle against the officer and that he feared for his life. But critics have disputed that characterization, arguing that video footage of the shooting shows she was attempting to drive away at the time and that the shooting was unnecessary.
Read More on Politics
President Donald Trump campaigned on tougher immigration enforcement and quickly moved to implement that policy upon his return to the White House last year. But ICE has remained a divisive agency—some progressive Democrats for years have been saying it is a rogue agency that should be abolished. That message has reemerged in recent days as immigration is likely to become a central issue of the 2026 midterms.
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What To Know
Calls to abolish ICE began during Trump’s first administration, which also focused on immigration issues. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York was one of the most prominent Democrats to call for its abolition at the time. But the policy never quite caught on with more centrist Democrats, who believed reform was a better path than abolishing the agency completely.
Those calls were renewed after Wednesday's fatal shooting, after which Democratic lawmakers and candidates have called for ICE to be abolished. Graham Platner, a Democrat who is running to challenge Republican Senator Susan Collins in Maine's battleground race, is among those questioning the future of the agency.
“When you send armed, under-trained amateurs into American communities with vague orders and no accountability, this is inevitable. ICE must be dismantled,” Platner wrote in a post to X.
Former Representative Cori Bush, a Missouri Democrat who is seeking a rematch after losing her primary to Representative Wesley Bell, also said the agency should be abolished.
“ICE’s murder of a legal observer in Minneapolis is an outrage. We must stop this rogue agency and get these masked federal agents out of our cities now. Congress has to stand up to the president and put an end to this state violence. Abolish ICE,” she wrote.
Representative Rashida Tlaib, a Michigan Democrat, wrote on X that it is “clear from that video that an ICE federal agent just shot a woman four times in cold blood,” calling to “Abolish ICE now.”
Abdul El-Sayed, a Democrat running in Michigan’s Senate race, reiterated calls to end the agency as well.
“I’ve worked alongside law enforcement to keep our communities safe. ICE is not law enforcement—it’s lawlessness in the name of Trump’s power. So like I said in 2018: Abolish ICE,” he wrote on X.
Bill Kristol, a former Republican Bush administration official and conservative commentator, also showed support for the proposal, writing on X: “Abolish ICE.”
What People Are Saying
Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, on X: "Today, ICE officers in Minneapolis were conducting targeted operations when rioters began blocking ICE officers and one of these violent rioters weaponized her vehicle, attempting to run over our law enforcement officers in an attempt to kill them—an act of domestic terrorism. An ICE officer, fearing for his life, the lives of his fellow law enforcement and the safety of the public, fired defensive shots. He used his training and saved his own life and that of his fellow officers."
Representative Summer Lee, a Pennsylvania Democrat, on X: “The Trump administration is inflaming rhetoric about a community and commissioning the endangerment of its citizens—and now ICE just killed a woman. They are increasingly out of control. Call this what it is: a police state. It’s past time to abolish ICE once and for all.”
What Happens Next
The shooting remains under investigation. Republicans currently control Congress and have supported ICE after the shooting. How Democrats may approach the issue if they take back control of Congress in the midterms, and whether more of the party embraces calls to abolish the agency, remains to be seen.
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