ICE is holding 44,000 people/most Democrats want to reform, not abolish ICE

Most Democrats don’t want to abolish ICE but do want to reform it.

CBP's many failings during the family separation crisis are well documented. But Ronald Vitiello, its deputy at the time, received few questions about them at his confirmation hearing to lead ICE. https://t.co/wjdV1ov3VW

— Noah Lanard (@nlanard) November 15, 2018

Acting head of ICE apologizes for sending a tweet in 2015 that suggested renaming the Democratic Party as the "NeoKlanist" party. https://t.co/bW7dUkKQAc

— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 15, 2018

Just to put that in perspective… Wrigley Field in Chicago only holds 41,000 people. So imagine all of the fans and all of the employees at a packed Cubs game — hauled away and put in cages. Then jail a few thousand more. https://t.co/2m62WkqLgR

— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman) November 12, 2018

.@realDonaldTrump says Democrats want to abolish ICE. Context: Congressional Democratic leaders have called for a restructuring of the agency, but not an end to immigration enforcement. https://t.co/AU8TQKWQ1r

— PolitiFact (@PolitiFact) November 3, 2018

With just days to go before the midterm elections, Democrats haven't abolished ICE, just their message about it https://t.co/o2SkdCR94n

— NBC News (@NBCNews) November 4, 2018

Why ICE needs to be reformed

Reformed, not abolished.

Here’s an example of why changes are needed:

Newly unsealed court documents show that ICE misled a federal judge in order to keep Iraqi immigrants in detention. Big story from @nlanard https://t.co/mVRnsgZHqt

— Aaron Wiener (@aaronwiener) October 25, 2018

other ICE tweets:

Where ICE Raids Are Happening https://t.co/WiwIPkeqnA pic.twitter.com/TZ7xeeVcjA

— eSmartMe (@esmartme) October 25, 2018

Acting ICE Director attends annual media event of anti-immigrant hate group FAIR – Southern Poverty Law Center https://t.co/RGMlqRHrja

— Ronald (@RonaldMeltzer) September 14, 2018

It's not just FEMA: ICE quietly got an extra $200 millionhttps://t.co/gRQ7HaNtKK

— AprilDRyan (@AprilDRyan) September 12, 2018

Big news that might go unnoticed today. Trump admin is defying 1997 court agreement and plans to hold children in ICE detention indefinitely starting in 2 months. https://t.co/8pedcWAV9N

— Julia E. Ainsley (@JuliaEAinsley) September 6, 2018

The changes proposed by the Trump administration would allow ICE to expand its family detention facilities in order to keep parents and children together in custody for longer periods of time.

More at @washingtonpost: https://t.co/qa3ci9xBH7

— The Marshall Project (@MarshallProj) September 6, 2018

DHS wasn’t prepared for Trump’s zero tolerance policy

Two scathing reports from DHS OIG about Trump administration treatment of migrants.

First says DHS wasn’t prepared for separations.

Second says one ICE detention center had horrific conditions including nooses in cells.

Latest, with @PeteWilliamsNBC. https://t.co/bSGr6LjMWZ

— Jacob Soboroff (@jacobsoboroff) October 2, 2018

Scathing new report from DHS Inspector General says ICE contractors improperly put 14 immigration detainees into solitary, including one in a wheelchair, then ignored required medical assessments, a problem the gov't noted last year after a detainee killed himself. pic.twitter.com/xPXg9nQDiV

— Brad Heath (@bradheath) October 2, 2018

Few Democrats want to abolish ICE

This poll shows that few Democrats want to abolish ICE. Many Democrats want to reform ICE but I have seen many headlines translate that to “abolish”.

Democrats don’t want open borders either.

What ICE does.

ICE arrested a man taking his pregnant wife to give birth

I am not in favor of abolishing ICE but it certainly needs to be reformed.

ICE arrested a man driving his pregnant wife to give birth. She drove herself to the hospital. https://t.co/Pi8Qw0217U

— Washington Post (@washingtonpost) August 18, 2018

update – he was wanted for murder in Mexico

Hours after their initial reports. which got 10s of thousands of RTs.

The problem is Tweet first, fact-find second. Needs to be reversed. https://t.co/vyHxhzebLW

— Nathan the Wurtzelhearted (@NathanWurtzel) August 19, 2018

A new lawsuit says ICE agents pressured parents to be deported with their children — then separated them again when they refused. https://t.co/X74oDRYnQJ pic.twitter.com/0WDWat48Mr

— Vox (@voxdotcom) July 30, 2018

Internal ICE emails show how the government set a trap for undocumented spouses of US citizens https://t.co/oRapT7zsQt via @MotherJones

— Glenn Kessler (@GlennKesslerWP) August 18, 2018

Increased ICE arrests in New York

In the 8 months after Trump's inauguration, New York-area ICE arrests of immigrants with no criminal convictions went up 225%.

From hard data to heartrending personal stories, we have a snapshot of what life is like for undocumented New Yorkers. https://t.co/OrlkyAr5gP

— The Marshall Project (@MarshallProj) July 29, 2018

ICE forcing parents to accept deportation in order to see separated children

Critics want to abolish ICE. But what does it exactly do? https://t.co/hg0EY4lGrt

— The New York Times (@nytimes) July 3, 2018

Scoop: ICE forcing separated parents to accept deportation to see their kids https://t.co/h3Ktyoc3tZ via @nbcnews

— Ken Dilanian (@KenDilanianNBC) July 3, 2018

Last week ICE reportedly encouraged a Brazilian father seeking asylum to accept deportation in order to be reunited with his son. He refused. Here he describes what living through family separation feels like. https://t.co/jbSvk8JqfI pic.twitter.com/mKnA4r5ohS

— Ryan Devereaux (@rdevro) July 3, 2018

Indiana church protests Trump's immigration policies by holding Jesus, Mary and Joseph in 'ICE detention' https://t.co/8BKrrFByc6

— Fox News (@FoxNews) July 3, 2018

It is so revealing that the main defense of ICE are criminal arrests/prosecutions that could be done by other law enforcement agencies.

Notice WH isn’t defending ICE by saying: “But look at all these moms we arrested at a garden center in Ohio!”

— Chris Hayes (@chrislhayes) July 2, 2018

From an ICE processing center in El Paso, Mabel Gonzales has been compiling lists of other mothers who have been separated from their children: https://t.co/n5IlitLMQU pic.twitter.com/P0JHw7mM7Z

— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) July 3, 2018

natesilver: Until fairly recently, Google searches for Vanilla Ice exceeded searches for ICE. https://t.co/UtVZaWiZcL pic.twitter.com/CQCmqSjbRo

— FiveThirtyEight (@FiveThirtyEight) July 3, 2018

In his latest fearmongering, President Trump gets both MS-13 and ICE wrong, writes @GrahamDavidA: https://t.co/IA2fLUz6SA

— The Atlantic (@TheAtlantic) July 3, 2018

ICE isn’t the border agency. That’s CBP. https://t.co/UAR5V24OPB

— Elise Foley (@elisefoley) July 3, 2018

ICE moved more 60 women out of earshot of DHS Secretary Kristjen Nielsen, who was visiting the detention center where they were being held after having their children taken away from them, so she couldn't hear them screaming for help, @theintercept says https://t.co/IRuHDqdXy2

— Emily Flitter (@FlitterOnFraud) July 3, 2018