In the hours after a Border Patrol agent shot and killed armed protester Alex Jeffrey Pretti in Minneapolis on Saturday, NH-01 Democratic primary candidate state Rep. Heath Howard took to social media, repeating his calls to “abolish ICE” and challenging his opponents to do the same.
“People are tired of ‘Do Nothing Democrats.’ Abolishing ICE should be the bare minimum at this point,” Howard wrote, adding, “ICE’s violence in our streets has become the core of Donald Trump’s authoritarian tactics. Make no mistake: ICE is the unaccountable, out-of-control secret police that forms the foundation of every fascist dictatorship on Earth.”
Who are these “Do Nothing Democrats?” Howard, who is in second place behind Stefany Shaheen in the latest UNH survey, didn’t say. But he is calling out Shaheen’s mother, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, for not committing to vote against the Department of Homeland Security budget when it reaches the Senate floor.
As for the NH-01 frontrunner, the younger Shaheen has expressed outrage and anguish, but when it comes to ICE, she has been careful to avoid the “A” word — “abolish.”
“Another person has been shot and killed by ICE agents in Minnesota,” Shaheen posted after the story broke. “This violence must end. This is NOT making our communities safer. ICE needs to leave Minnesota and Maine immediately. And Kristi Noem needs to be impeached.”
Later, she posted that the “indiscriminate violence must be stopped now. We cannot continue to fund this abuse.”
Does that mean Shaheen wants to end all ICE funding, effectively abolishing it? The Shaheen campaign did not respond to requests for clarification from NHJournal.
Maura Sullivan, the top fundraiser in the NH-01 Democratic primary and an Iraq War veteran, also had harsh words for the immigration enforcement agency.
“I saw more respect for the rule of law on the streets of Fallujah in the Iraq War than I’m seeing from ICE officers in Minneapolis,” Sullivan said in a social media post. But she, too, has declined to call for ICE’s shutdown.
The National Republican Congressional Committee has taken notice.
“Stefany Shaheen and Maura Sullivan can’t dodge this. Granite Staters deserve to know whether they support their party’s calls to abolish ICE and fire thousands of law enforcement officers, or whether they stand for law, order, and public safety,” said NRCC spokeswoman Maureen O’Toole.
NH-01 Democratic candidate Sarah Chadzynski, on the other hand, has been crystal clear that she wants to shut down ICE.
“I have called for the complete outlawing of Gestapo tactics and the abolishment of ICE,” she said in a video released Saturday.
Christian Urrutia, another progressive in the race, also responded to the latest Minneapolis shooting with a video.
“Every week, we hear another horrific story about ICE executing people on the streets, holding a five-year-old hostage as bait. ICE needs to be dismantled,” Urrutia said.
An Ipsos poll released last week showed most Americans believe the shooting of Renee Nicole Goode earlier this month was an excessive use of force. Other polls show a steady decline in support for Trump’s immigration enforcement policies as images of violence and disorder dominate the news.
At the same time, polls also show Americans are divided on whether ICE should be abolished, and some Democratic strategists are warning their party not to jump on a political wave — like the “Defund the Police” movement — that may soon crash.
Perhaps that explains why U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for U.S. Senate, refused to give WMUR’s Adam Sexton a direct answer on the “abolish ICE” question, despite the reporter’s repeated attempts to get clarity.
“A lot of Democrats are saying accountability means abolishing ICE. Are you on board with getting rid of the agency altogether?” Sexton asked in a Jan. 18 interview.
Rather than answer, Pappas talked about taking additional ICE funding from the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” and redirecting it to local law enforcement.
“ICE has an opportunity to focus on its core mission, which most Americans support, which is going after the worst of the worst, as this president has often said — focusing on the criminals that are violating the law,” Pappas said.
“So you’re saying ‘reform’ rather than ‘abolish’?” Sexton asked.
Again, Pappas declined to give a clear answer. He accused ICE of “going after American citizens” and “going house by house, street by street, asking people for their papers,” but he declined to say whether he supports abolishing the agency.