As difficult as it is to protect our neighbors from ICE’s reign of terror, we need to go a step further to get to the root of the problem. It’s time to overhaul our broken immigration system and replace it with one rooted in humanity, not cruelty.

ICE is a rogue agency operating outside the law, and its abuses have now led to the killing of a U.S. citizen in Minneapolis on January 7. I’ve traveled all across Massachusetts and it’s clear: people don’t feel safer because of ICE. They live in fear of masked agents abducting their neighbors in broad daylight. What has become clear to the broader public has been true for immigrant communities for decades: brutality is the point. An agency designed by the Bush administration to apply the logic of the Global War on Terror to immigration enforcement cannot be reformed. Unfortunately, the Democratic Party leadership have not only further enabled ICE (with the passing of the Big Beautiful Act and the allocation of more than $170 billion for ICE) they have repeatedly failed to use their Congressional majorities to create a humane pathway to citizenship.

When I say “Abolish ICE,” I mean 4 things:

• Investigating and holding ICE agents accountable

• Abolishing ICE as a federal agency

• Passing a 21st century immigration system, creating a humane pathway to citizenship for our immigrant neighbors

• Redirecting ICE’s $170 billion budget back to schools, healthcare, and housing