Democrats want to tear down ICE and rebuild DHS from scratch, and the Trump administration says it is not happening.
Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) pushed DHS into a new political fight when she unveiled a Chicago proposal to eliminate the department, abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and shift its funding into a different public-safety model.
“Radical leftists are calling to defund the police and abolish DHS. It’s NEVER going to happen,” DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin shot back.
Ramirez introduced the Reimagining Safety Act as a plan to move federal dollars out of ICE and DHS and into programs that “working families rely on.”
“Our 270,000 DHS patriots are keeping Americans SAFE — unlike this open borders politician who refuses to prioritize Americans over illegal aliens,” the secretary added.
Radical leftists are calling to defund the police and abolish DHS.
It’s NEVER going to happen.
Our 270,000 @DHSgov patriots are keeping Americans SAFE— unlike this open borders politician who refuses to prioritize Americans over illegal aliens. pic.twitter.com/Sec9TsfEgn
— Secretary Markwayne Mullin (@SecMullinDHS) September 23, 2026
The Illinois Democrat’s proposal would replace DHS with what she described as a “new human- and community-centered federal department” organized around “collective safety.”
Ramirez told WFLD-TV that the department she wants would be grounded in humanity rather than “surveillance” and “terrorizing people.”
DHS responded by pointing to illegal alien criminals ICE has deported from the United States and accusing Ramirez of attacking the officers responsible for removing them.
🪖Seventeen battle-tested candidates are ready to strike a decisive blow to the Democrat Machine — but they urgently need resources. 🪖 Join the grassroots push to save the House Majority and back them today! ➡️➡️➡️ Make a 17X impact!!! 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸
“Representative Ramirez should be thanking our law enforcement for removing these dangerous criminals from her district — NOT vilifying law enforcement,” a DHS spokesperson said.
Ramirez answered with a long statement that cast DHS as a federal weapon and described her bill as an attempt to replace it.
“Every day, Americans wake up with a new reason to dismantle DHS, reimagine safety, and build something that honors our shared humanity,” Ramirez declared.
She argued that the public can force the federal government away from enforcement and toward a model built around care.
“The people have the power to reshape the government: instead of the weapon DHS has proven to be, we need a department built on the best parts of who we are and can be, and the best examples of how we can take care of each other in hard times,” Ramirez continued.
Ramirez maintained that the Reimagining Safety Act would keep the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, the Transportation Security Administration, the Coast Guard and Customs functions now housed under DHS.
“My Reimagining Safety Act PROTECTS [the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency], [the Transportation Security Administration], the Coast Guard, and Customs functions, expands [the Federal Emergency Management Agency], and delivers funding back to our communities,” she continued.
She also accused Markwayne and DHS of using false claims to protect themselves.
“Markwayne and DHS will keep spreading cheap lies and fearmongering in a desperate attempt to save face because dismantling DHS and building something new is part of how we hold them accountable, stop corruption, and end their lawlessness,” Ramirez charged.
The Illinois Democrat had already turned her fire on ICE in July, accusing the agency of pursuing people during routine activities.
“ICE is shooting people who are going to work, taking their children to school, and even visiting as tourists,” Ramirez said.
She also labeled ICE agents “masked death squads” and tied their conduct to President Donald Trump and Trump aide Stephen Miller.
“The death toll of ICE victims keeps rising. The actions of ICE’s masked death squads reflect the shameless cruelty of [President Donald] Trump and [Trump aide Stephen] Miller’s policies, paid for by our tax dollars,” Ramirez said. “It’s time to stop the ICE age.”
Ramirez’s bill arrived as other Democrats were calling for major changes to immigration enforcement.
Rep. Tom Suozzi (D-NY), in remarks highlighted by the Republican National Committee, told an audience that his “biggest desire” was to legalize millions of illegal migrants who could otherwise be deported.
“My biggest desire, my biggest goal of what I want to accomplish in politics right now, is I want to legalize seven or eight or nine or 10 million people in our country, so they will not be subject to deportation,” Suozzi said.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) took a different approach Wednesday on MS NOW’s “Morning Joe,” arguing that Democrats should take “real ownership” of DHS rather than treating the department as someone else’s problem.
“What we have to do is actually look at this and actually turn it into a real immigration force that we want, that’s getting rid of the bad people, and it’s helping keep the good people in,” Gallego said.
Gallego argued that Democrats had failed to manage DHS and said the department had suffered from “a lot of rot” for years.
“The problem is, I think, in the past, the Democrats have not worked effectually to actually deal with DHS,” Gallego said. “We kind of just let it go as a purview of something over there.”
Gallego linked the issue to his “Obama days” and urged Democrats to control the department’s leadership and immigration enforcement agenda.
“We have to actually take real ownership of DHS, understand who’s in charge, and actually pass real policies to actually fix the problems that have kind of been plaguing this country when it comes to immigration for decades now,” Gallego added.
As Democrats debated whether DHS should be dismantled, rebuilt or run differently, the department scored a Supreme Court win Friday over voter-roll checks.
The court cleared DHS to use the expanded Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlements system, known as SAVE, to verify voter citizenship through Social Security records.
The decision gives DHS access to an expanded voter citizenship verification system for removing illegal aliens and non-citizens from voter rolls.
The Associated Press reported that the ruling is unlikely to alter the midterm elections because most states are barred from removing voters from their rolls within 90 days of an election.
SAVE was originally designed to make DHS help federal, state and local agencies prevent government benefits from going to non-citizens.
The administration broadened the program in 2025 so agencies could use it to better ensure that only U.S. citizens vote, leading to at least 67 million registrations being scanned.
U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan blocked the administration’s use of the tool in June, warning that it could wrongly remove citizens from voter rolls and violate Americans’ privacy rights.
The Supreme Court found that the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 allowed DHS to gather citizenship and immigration information from other federal agencies.
Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson dissented.
“The Court focuses only on the harms the Government will purportedly suffer absent a stay, disregarding the harms that the modified SAVE system has caused, and will likely continue to cause, to lawful voters,” Jackson wrote.
“The harm caused by burdening or disenfranchising even a few lawful voters outweighs the nonexistent harm that the Government experiences when it is prevented from taking an action that it likely lacks the authority to take,” Jackson continued.
