Rep. Shri Thanedar (D-MI) said he will be introducing a bill this week to abolish ICE because the agency was committing “murders” and was “beyond reform.”
Thanedar loudly told reporters about his plans during a press conference on Capitol Hill on Wednesday.
“We must reform ICE. But it looks at this stage, folks, ICE is beyond reform,” he yelped. “ICE is totally out of control, and this week I intend to introduce a bill to abolish ICE.”
He called for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to be impeached and argued the federal government did a fine job handling immigration before ICE was established in 2003.
“We do not need the murders, we do not need this paramilitary organization’s members on our streets, terrorizing U.S. citizens, terrorizing moms, terrorizing our children,” he said.
Thanedar’s bill plan comes after 37-year-old protester Renee Good was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis last week. CBS News reported on Wednesday the agent, Jonathan Ross, suffered internal bleeding when he was hit by Good’s SUV before he opened fire.
Democratic lawmakers like Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz condemned ICE following the shooting, and several anti-ICE protests broke out in the aftermath. White House Border Czar Tom Homan said on Tuesday that Ross was in”hiding” due to safety concerns.
Thanedar appears to have growing support for abolishing ICE among his Democratic colleagues. He was flanked by Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS), Rep. Tim Kennedy (D-NY), and Rep. Al Green (D-TX) while he spoke on Wednesday, with a large picture of Good propped up next to his microphone.
Rep. Ayanna Pressley (D-MA) told MS NOW last weekend that ICE “cannot be reformed” and called for it to be abolished. And Politico reported on Wednesday many Dems are “ready to fund it — with conditions.”
Noem said she was ignoring Frey’s call for ICE to “get the f*ck out” of Minneapolis and sending “hundreds more” agents to the city this week.
Watch Thanedar above, via C-SPAN.
