What Americans actually want done about ICE

Democratic proposals for reform earn supermajority support among U.S. voters

In a letter sent on Feb. 4, 2026, Democratic congressional leaders Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer laid out their 10 key demands for the current fight in Washington over funding for the Department of Homeland Security, and thus Immigration and Customs Enforcement. If these demands aren’t met, Jeffries and Schumer say, they will refuse to fund DHS outright. The agency could partially shut down in two weeks when funding runs out.qu

I have spent a good amount of space here recently documenting how America has reached a tipping point on immigration and that appetite for reform — including abolishing ICE outright — has risen in the past year. And polls show there is intense anger at how Donald Trump has carried out his agenda of mass deportations over the last year; net favorability of ICE has recently fallen to an all-time low, averaging -20 across pollsters. So now that Democrats have leverage, it’s worth asking the question: What reforms do Americans actually want?

The list from Democra…