Rep. Delia Ramirez
is expected to introduce a bill to abolish the Department of Homeland Security and eliminate all immigrant detention in the United States on Tuesday, the Illinois Democrat shared exclusively with The Intercept.
The Reimagining Safety Act would repeal “duplicative and overreaching terrorism laws,” according to the bill summary and text, and curtail the widespread
surveillance state
that emerged in the wake of 9/11 terror attacks.
It comes the day after agents from Homeland Security Investigations
searched the home
of Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., in what the Department of Justice has described as an
opaque
“federal criminal investigation.” HSI is a
component of
Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, the agency at the center of mounting concerns about the violent
weaponization
of DHS against immigrants and the Trump administration’s
perceived political enemies
.
The sweeping legislation faces long odds in Congress, but Ramirez argues that strictly limiting the government’s immigration enforcement apparatus is critical for public safety in the wake of yet another shooting by federal immigration agents.
ICE Agent on Scene of NYC Shooting Was Posing as Construction Worker, Eyewitness Says
Last Thursday, an ICE agent
shot
28-year-old Oscar Belgal in the neck by firing into his car, where Belgal’s 5-year-old child
was in the backseat
, in New York City. Belgal was the latest of at least 25 people
shot by federal immigration agents
in the past year; six of those shootings were
fatal
. Deaths in detention are also
surging
under Trump. As of early October, at least 28 people have reportedly
died in ICE custody
this year, according to the National Immigration Project.
“Just this week, our communities were reminded that DHS is a weapon: pointed at a father shot in front of his 5-year-old and at Congresswoman Omar, who is using her voice to demand an end to fascism,” wrote Ramirez in a statement to The Intercept.
… [more]
