Rep. Delia C. Ramirez (D-Illinois) has introduced a bill that would abolish not just ICE, but the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) altogether, repealing the 2002 law establishing the agency and replacing it with one focused on protecting civil and human rights.

The wide-ranging legislation, dubbed the Reimagining Safety Act, would repeal the Homeland Security Act. Signed by President George W. Bush as part of his administration’s post-9/11 “war on terror,” the transformational bill created DHS and led to the establishment of Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The bill would abolish DHS, CBP, and ICE — going further than the progressive call to abolish ICE. Other offices currently housed within the department, like Transportation Security Administration (TSA), the Coast Guard, Citizenship and Immigration Services, and the customs functions of CBP would be broken off into different authorities.

“We know that DHS was intentionally established with an overbroad mission and unchecked power. The last two years have made it visible what so many communities have actually been saying for decades: That DHS, frankly, is the single greatest threat to our public safety today,” Ramirez said in a press conference previewing the legislation last month. “We must strip away every single tool they are using to terrorize us.”

In DHS’s place, Ramirez’s bill would create a cabinet-level “Department of Community Safety,” which would address community concerns ranging from gun violence to disaster relief, using a public health-based approach. All immigration detention centers would be shuttered.

…