House Republicans are split over whether it’s politically or practically smart to force Democrats to vote on their unpopular proposal to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement in the coming weeks.
Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said Thursday he would bring a bill to the floor written by Democrats that would end ICE in a year and farm out some of its functions to other parts of the government. But the vote may not happen after all thanks to a division in the GOP ranks.
Republican conservatives favor holding the vote because, they say, it would force Democrats to take a position on a proposal that has garnered significant opposition in the polls and is backed by a faction of the most politically safe and left-leaning lawmakers in their party.
Majority Whip Steve Scalise, R-La., has led the effort to convince Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., to bring the bill to the floor, lawmakers told the Washington Examiner.
Ryan called the idea “the craziest position I have ever seen.” But he has not signaled whether he endorses McCarthy’s desire to bring the bill to the floor to force Democrats to vote on it.
The agency carries out all interior immigration enforcement and also combats associated gang violence, drug smuggling, and human trafficking. A vote would presumably show a split in the Democratic caucus on a major party issue that Republicans could exploit as they unify against it.
The proposal to abolish ICE is backed by the most liberal in the Democratic base and has been a central element in the platform of rising star Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who defeated House Democratic Caucus Chairman Joe Crowley in a New York primary last month. Proponents of the idea argue that ICE is splitting up families, is “out of control,” and is used to “terrorize Latino families around the country,” the bill’s sponsors said.
A smattering of elected Democrats have come out publicly in favor of abolishing ICE, among them Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D-N.Y., and Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass.
But other Democrats have backed away from calling for abolishing the agency. Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called for reforming ICE but not abolishing it.
With the midterm election just a few months away, conservatives are eager to corner the Democrats on the issue and show their divisions.
“Our position is, we control the floor and we should make them take difficult votes every day,” a GOP aide told the Washington Examiner. “And you want to get that wedge.”
But many other Republican lawmakers don’t want to spend floor time on a bill that is poised to fail and which could backfire on the GOP by giving the most politically vulnerable Democrats a chance to vote against abolishing ICE.
“Right now the whole Democratic Party is tarred with this abolish ICE thing,” Rep. Tom Cole, R-Okla., said, characterizing the GOP debate on the bill. “Why give people a get out of jail card free?”
A Politico poll this week found only 25 percent of voters back the idea of abolishing ICE.
On Friday, Democratic lawmakers who back abolishing ICE announced preemptively that they would vote against their own bill if Republicans bring it to the floor. The bill’s sponsors called the plan to bring it up for a vote a political stunt aimed at showing Democratic division.
“If Speaker Ryan puts our bill on the floor, we plan to vote ‘no’ and will instead use the opportunity to force an urgently needed and long-overdue conversation on the House floor,” Reps. Primala Jayapal, D-Wash., Mark Pocan, D-Wis., and Adriano Espaillat, D-N.Y., the bill sponsors, said in a statement. “We will discuss the thousands of families still separated by President Trump’s cruel zero-tolerance policy, the 800,000 young people whose lives have been thrown into turmoil by the President’s decision to end DACA, and the abuses carried out by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.”
The debate within the GOP on what to do next is expected to continue, but some key members say a vote is worth it to show up Democrats. Rep. Mark Walker, R-N.C., who is head of the conservative Republican Study Committee, is one of those members.
“I would lean toward doing so,” Walker said. “If you are going so far as to draft legislation, then evidently you want a vote on it. So maybe we should.”
