The heated rhetoric over the Trump Administration's enforcement of immigration law has reached the point of elected Democrats now calling for the abolition of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). But those politicians may want to check with their voters before running on the "Down with ICE" theme in this year's elections. A new Harvard/Harris poll shows a strong majority of voters, including Democrats, are against abolishing ICE. According to the survey, 59 percent of Democrats are opposed to abolishing ICE, along with 75 percent of swing voters and 78 percent of Republicans. In all, nearly 70 percent of all Americans surveyed do not want to do away with ICE.
Jessica Vaughan with the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) is not surprised at the polling results, telling KTRH that abolishing ICE is a radical position. "To say that ICE should be abolished is another way of saying that there should be no rules or limits on immigration, which is another way of advocating for open borders," she says. "ICE does very important work, and immigration laws are important to protect job opportunities, to protect taxpayers, and for our safety."
As for improving our immigration enforcement system, Vaughan believes there are ways to do it that don't involve ending ICE. "Rather than abolishing ICE, what we need is to provide ICE with more resources, and empower state and local law enforcement agencies, and local governments, to work more closely with ICE to make sure all immigration to this country is legal, and that it's happening in a way that does not jeopardize our safety," she says.