Opinion Trump’s ICE crackdown is draconian. But Democrats are not opposing it
Trump’s ramping up of deportations is horrendous and dangerous. But it is part of a long-term agenda shared by Republicans and Democrats
People participate in an anti-ICE rally Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo) Donald Trump’s ICE is terrorising American cities. Thousands are being snatched off the streets, and drivers are being pulled over by masked and warrantless ICE agents in unmarked cars. Peaceful activist and mother Renee Good was brutally murdered by ICE agents in Minneapolis. The public approval rating for ICE has plummeted since Trump took office, and a majority of Americans now disapprove of ICE. Trump’s own popularity has cratered to an unprecedented low. Yet, the Democratic Party has refused to fight Trump and the Republican Party. This is because creating and funding ICE and super-exploiting immigrant workers for Wall Street’s greed have always been a bipartisan agenda.
The Democrats control the governor’s office and majorities in both houses of the legislature in 16 states. They control the mayor’s office in 67 of the 100 largest cities, many of which have experienced some of the most shocking attacks by ICE. These Democrats could declare today that their cities will stop all collaboration with ICE, and follow through. Data reveals that ICE arrests are substantially greater in states where police and other departments cooperate with and share data with ICE. Democratic mayors and city councils could pass emergency legislation banning local agencies from sharing data with ICE and enforce the law with serious penalties, including firing, for agency heads. Local Democrats could pass emergency legislation banning ICE and all other law enforcement officers from wearing masks. They can use their public platforms, which can reach millions of working people, to launch mass protests and civil disobedience.
The Democratic Party has failed to carry out a single one of these actions. In Minneapolis, the Democrats, led by Mayor Jacob Frey and Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, have allowed ICE to launch its dreaded Operation Metro Surge, which has unleashed 3,000 agents in the city. The Democratic Party controls Washington state, where I reside. Chillingly, the state’s agencies allowed federal agencies such as ICE and Homeland Security to query the state’s Department of Licensing database nearly 2.7 million times in 2025 alone.
Trump’s ramping up of deportations is horrendous and dangerous. But it is part of a long-term agenda shared by Republicans and Democrats. The 4.4 million deportations plus border expulsions under Joe Biden exceeded those during any single presidential term since Republican George W Bush’s second term. During the eight years of Barack Obama, over 3 million people were deported, more than all 20th-century presidents combined, earning him the title “Deporter-in-Chief”. The Democratic Party is not a “lesser evil”. Both parties are responsible for brutal attacks on immigrants and working people, atrocities around the world, imperialist wars, and the plundering of resources worldwide, which itself drives immigration.
Attacks on immigrants are endemic to this system, not only in the US, but globally. The capitalist class impoverishes indigenous communities and creates refugees and immigrants. Once the immigrants arrive in the economically advanced nation, it is in the capitalists’ interests to oppress them to keep the working class divided. By keeping immigrant workers marginalised, paid lower-tier wages, and always fearful of deportation, the bosses can set the (low) bar for wages and working conditions. They pit native-born workers against immigrant workers in a continual race to the bottom. This is why we need international working-class solidarity against this anti-immigrant agenda.
In the US, we urgently need mass protests, peaceful civil disobedience, and strike actions. When Trump instituted his abhorrent Muslim travel ban in January 2017 during his first term, my socialist Seattle City Council office led the SeaTac airport shutdown, disregarding the objections of many Democratic politicians and operatives who opposed our mass civil disobedience. We need to bring that back to defeat Trump and both parties of the American billionaire class. Working people need to fight to win historic victories such as free healthcare for all by taxing the rich, national rent control, a $25-an-hour minimum wage, and a permanent end to all US military aid to Israel.
The writer is a former Seattle City Council member who is now running for US Congress as an independent antiwar socialist
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