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Abdul El-Sayed, a candidate vying for the seat of Sen. Gary Peters in Michigan, has reignited a contentious debate by advocating for the dismantling of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This stance, initially popularized by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez from New York, had been largely shelved by the Democratic Party after Donald Trump’s re-election campaign.
In a conversation with podcaster Evan James, El-Sayed criticized the allocation of $185 billion over four years to ICE, arguing that the funds are being used “to shoot people in the face.” His remarks highlight a deep-seated dissatisfaction with the agency’s operations.
El-Sayed elaborated, suggesting that the moderate position should indeed question the very existence of ICE. “It seems to me that the middle position is like, this shouldn’t exist,” he expressed.
Drawing from personal experience, El-Sayed, who is the son of an Egyptian immigrant, characterized ICE agents as a “paramilitary force of thugs.” He attributed this transformation to a broader agenda led by former President Trump.
El-Sayed argued, “Why is ICE this way? Well, it’s because Donald Trump has been waging, at this point, an 11-year war against the U.S. Constitution itself.” He contended that Trump utilized ICE and immigration as a facade to establish a paramilitary group, accountable solely to him, to exert control over communities.
“I would like to abolish the agency that has existed, in large part, to end or at least push back against the rule of law and the Constitution,” El-Sayed said. “That should be an obvious thing that everyone should say.”
In January, the Searchlight Institute, which often issues memos to Democrats urging them to take more popular positions widely held by the American public, released a memo that told elected Democrats and those running for office in the midterms to drop the “abolish ICE” talking point.
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“Confronted by these excesses, some on the left have renewed their calls to ‘abolish ICE,’” the memo reads. “But let’s be clear that advocating for abolishing ICE is tantamount to advocating for stopping enforcement of all of our immigration laws in the interior of the United States — a policy position that is both wrong on the merits and at odds with the American public on the issue.”
The latest polls show El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI) essentially tied in the Democrat primary for the Michigan Senate seat.
John Binder is a reporter for – News. Email him at jbinder@breitbart.com.