ICEd Out
From abolitionist politics to hollow inertia
Context
At the beginning of the 45th Presidency, left-wing activists coined the now-infamous “Abolish ICE” meme. This was, of course, driven by reflexive emotional reaction to Trump’s anti-immigration platform. However, back then, “Abolish ICE” was not universally accepted on the left. Those wielding the slogan were obliged to engage in discourse surrounding it, and what emerged was a coherent motivation and conscious strategy. The bullet points that follow outline the chronology:
INS was reworked into ICE as part of the creation of the DHS
Where INS was once part of the DoJ and largely bureaucratic/judicial, ICE is more of a federal law enforcement agency
This decision co-occurred with a rapid militarization of police under a post-9/11 state of emergency which never ended
“Abolish ICE” could mean, to a non-anarchistic liberal, a return to the INS, and a possible opportunity to roll back the permanent state of emergency and return to a more procedural, adjudicative …
