Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois introduced a bill on Tuesday that would dissolve the Department of Homeland Security, scrap Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and create a new Cabinet department called the Department of Community Safety.
Among other things, the Reimagining Safety Act would disband U.S. Customs and Border Protection, redirect money currently allocated to immigration enforcement to social programs, and begin establishing a separate civil immigration system.
Ramirez, the lead Democrat on a House Homeland Security subcommittee, said community groups helped craft the legislation. Her office said it is the first case of community stakeholders designing a Cabinet department.
The bill is highly unlikely to pass Congress, which is controlled by Republicans. It comes three weeks ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, when immigration policy is expected to play a role in voters’ decisions.
In a press statement, Ramirez laid out the reasons why, in her view, the department fails.
“Every person dead in detention, shot or killed by ICE and CBP, every neighbor deported to a third country, every family separated, every community FEMA failed, every miscarriage due to substandard care, every dissenter wrongfully branded, targeted, and persecuted as ‘terrorist,’ and every threat against our elections by Trump, Markwayne, and Miller is a reason DHS must be dismantled and something new must take its place,” Ramirez said. “There are more than a million reasons to take action today.”
She meant President Donald Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and White House advisor Stephen Miller.
“DHS was founded out of a profound national trauma, established to violate our rights under the pretense of securing our safety,” she said. “But we cannot add new pains to old ones.”
Congress established DHS in 2002 following the Sept. 11 attacks, combining 22 federal agencies into one department. Ramirez’s bill would repeal the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and dismantle the department.
Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency would be transferred to the new Department of Community Safety. The Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard would move to the Transportation Department, and customs duties would transfer to the Treasury Department.
Immigration enforcement would move to the Justice Department. Only the attorney general or deputy attorney general would have the authority to start deportation proceedings, and Congress would have to pass a joint resolution before any noncitizen could be deported.
The attorney general would have six months to release people from immigration detention and strip immigrants of ankle bracelets used for electronic monitoring. Within two years, all detention contracts would be canceled. The agreements between local law enforcement and the federal government allowing local police to enforce immigration laws, so-called 287(g) agreements, would be terminated.
The bill would also close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay within 60 days, stop construction of the border wall, and end the Pentagon program providing local police with excess military equipment. Federal agencies would require a judicial warrant to collect residents’ data from commercial vendors.
Money DHS does not spend on immigration enforcement would be rescinded and redirected to healthcare, housing, childcare, food, public education, climate change programs, safe migration, and economic opportunities. The bill would provide $250 million a year for the new Office of Community Violence Prevention and establish a National Social Service Corps.
Stakeholder panels would recommend a plan to abolish the Justice Department’s office that operates immigration courts and replace it with an independent court system.
Ramirez first announced the bill on Sept. 23 at the event attended by Illinois officials, advocacy groups, and community members.
Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, and Jim McGovern of Massachusetts.
More than 40 national and local organizations have backed the bill, including the American Friends Service Committee, the League of United Latin American Citizens, National Nurses United, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Mijente, Detention Watch Network, and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.
The Department of Homeland Security criticized the proposal. A spokesperson told Newsweek that Ramirez should thank law enforcement for removing dangerous criminals from her district instead of vilifying the officers and said such rhetoric contributed to the 1,300 percent increase in assaults on agents.
Ramirez said the new department would represent a different concept of public safety.
“Instead of the weapon DHS has proven to be, we need a department built on the best parts of who we are and can be, and the best examples of how we can take care of each other in hard times,” she said. “I am proud to have led that work with the organizations in my district and nationally.”
“Building something new, creating in a time of destruction, is a revolutionary act,” Ramirez stated. “It is proof of our hope and belief in what is possible even in dark times. A different world is possible because the people have the power to reshape our government and reimagine how we cultivate safety and collective well-being.”
