Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.) continued to distance himself from the progressive wing of his party on Thursday with a social media post defending Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
“ICE performs an important job for our country,” he wrote on X. “Any calls to abolish ICE are [100 percent] inappropriate and outrageous.”
Fetterman’s post comes as some Democrats have joined protests against ICE during President Trump’s immigration crackdown and mass workplace raids. Several have been arrested, detained or charged in recent weeks over their tactics, which have included impromptu appearances at ICE detention facilities and at immigration court hearings.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), chair emerita of the Congressional Progressive Caucus who backed legislation to abolish the immigration enforcement agency in 2018, called ICE a “rogue agency that doesn’t follow the law and has zero oversight or accountability” in an X post on Thursday.
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) recently faced backlash over a fundraising email renewing her calls for ICE to be dismantled.
Asked about the push among some Democrats to eliminate ICE during an appearance on ABC’s “The View” on Monday, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jefferies (D-N.Y.) didn’t directly respond to the merits of the movement but reiterated his opposition to ICE’s tactics.
“I definitely think that we need aggressive oversight as it relates to the overly aggressive behavior that we’re seeing from ICE, from the Department of Homeland Security,” he said.
Fetterman told NBC News last year that he doesn’t consider himself a progressive.
“I just think I’m a Democrat that is very committed to choice and other things. But with Israel, I’m going to be on the right side of that,” he told the outlet. “And immigration is something near and dear to me, and I think we do have to effectively address it as well.”
After his post defending ICE on Thursday, Fetterman added in a follow-up message that he still backs immigration reform to protect people who are undocumented but are not dangerous.
“Absolutely support amnesty for the hardworking, otherwise law-abiding migrant workers,” he wrote. “Round up and deport the criminals.”
“We must acknowledge the critical contribution migrants make to our nation’s economy,” he added.
