Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-IL) called for eliminating Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection entirely, proposing that the roughly $150 billion in funding for the two agencies be redirected toward a new federal agency focused on immigrants rather than enforcement.
Speaking partly in Spanish at a Chicago event, Ramirez said Democrats intend to “completely defund and strip authority from ICE and CBP,” which she said “keep lists of you.” She was joined by immigrant advocates, Islamic and Asian community organizers, a lesbian Chicago politician, and other progressive allies, along with people who are in the country illegally.
In place of ICE and CBP, Ramirez proposed a new Department of Community Safety that would take over immigration functions currently housed in the Department of Homeland Security. She said DHS “likes to call immigrants terrorists when it wants to attack them” and that a new agency would remove what she described as fear from the system for immigrant communities.
GOP Pushback
The proposal drew sharp criticism from Republican lawmakers. Rep. Brandon Gill (R-TX) wrote on social media that Ramirez’s stance illustrates “why it’s time to end birthright citizenship for the children of illegal aliens,” arguing it can “empower those with no loyalty to America to dismantle it from within.”
Ramirez responded, “It’s called Latina Power, Brandon!”
Your parents were illegal aliens who showed no regard for our nation or its laws when they came here. You should be beyond grateful that a legal loophole allowed you to enjoy the fruits of a first world nation. Instead, you’re working to end immigration enforcement– telling actual Americans that their birthright [of citizenship] doesn’t belong to them and that our nation and its culture has no meaning or value to you. You have no love or appreciation for America because, at the end of the day, you still proudly consider yourself a Guatemalan before you are a citizen of America. — Rep. Brandon Gill
Gill’s reply referenced comments Ramirez made in August 2025, when she said, “I’m a proud Guatemalan before I’m an American.” Ramirez is the daughter of two immigrants from Guatemala who entered the United States illegally.
Sen. Jim Banks (R-IN) also criticized Ramirez, listing several objections in a social media post: that “illegal aliens invaded our country,” that “the children of invaders don’t get birthright citizenship — it’s always been that way,” that the nation has “a constitutional right to protect its borders,” and that lawmakers should not “put another country first.”
A Broader Democratic Push
Ramirez’s proposal echoes moves already underway in other Democratic-led cities. In New York, Mayor Zohran Mamdani has created an Office of Community Safety intended to shield immigrants, including those receiving public benefits, from federal deportation efforts under President Donald Trump’s enforcement mandate.
Other Democrats have called for reshaping rather than eliminating DHS. Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) said this week that the department should be turned “into a real immigration force that we want, that’s getting rid of the bad migrants, and it’s helping keep the good migrants in.”
The push to redirect enforcement funding comes amid a broader bipartisan expansion of legal immigration that has continued since 1990, when Congress roughly doubled the annual number of legal immigrants to about 1 million — a level that has persisted for decades.
Another out of touch crackpot Democrat! These people have a major dysfunction in their minds and if they had their way they would eliminate the agencies that protect America and its Citizenry from so many foes be they abroad or within! Law breakers must face justice and in this case especially those foreigners that invaded our nations sovereignty along with other laws in the process! Just breaking the immigration laws is enough to land them in prison and be deported but some of them are even committing other heinous crimes daily! This Democrat and so many others need to get their minds right or just and shut up and go away!