Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, said Immigration and Customs Enforcement should keep receiving federal funding as some socialist Democrats revive calls to abolish the agency. Cuellar is the ranking member of the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee and is poised to become chairman, a role that would give him major influence over ICE funding.
Cuellar said most Democrats do not support defunding ICE, though he said the agency needs stronger oversight. He also warned his party not to return to the Biden administration’s border approach. “We just can't open up the border and just say anybody that wants to claim asylum can come to the borders,” Cuellar said.
The debate comes after “Abolish ICE” became a rallying cry for more than a dozen Democratic Socialists of America members elected or reelected in the midterms. The Trump administration has carried out immigration enforcement operations in cities including Minneapolis, Los Angeles, Chicago and New Orleans. The White House said those operations have led to more than 1.3 million arrests and 1.2 million illegal immigrants being deported or leaving the country.
Democratic governors in New York, California, Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland and Minnesota signed laws restricting state and local cooperation with federal immigration officials. Texas has moved the other direction, expanding 287(g) agreements that allow local officers to assist with immigration enforcement, jail screening and administrative warrants. Texas law now requires most county sheriffs to seek those agreements.
Cuellar said local law enforcement should report someone who is in the country illegally, but said any role beyond that deserves debate. He also criticized Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star while saying state and federal officials still must work together with Border Patrol.
