Illinois Senate Candidates Push to Abolish ICE Amid Immigration Crackdown

Three Democratic candidates vying for Illinois' open Senate seat are calling for major reforms or complete elimination of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The candidates are responding to Trump's aggressive immigration policies and recent federal raids in Chicago that resulted in community unrest.

CHICAGO – Three Democratic frontrunners competing for Illinois’ vacant Senate position have pledged to significantly overhaul or completely dismantle U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, demonstrating how immigration enforcement has become a central campaign issue following controversial federal operations that resulted in civilian casualties in Minnesota this year.

Taking a firm position against President Trump’s immigration enforcement approach has proven successful in other races. In New Jersey, Analilia Mejia secured victory in a competitive Democratic congressional primary by promising to eliminate ICE, the federal agency deploying armed officers across American cities to meet Trump’s deportation objectives. While such positions might pose challenges in general elections, the risk appears minimal in Illinois, a Democratic stronghold where no Republican has claimed statewide victory since 2014.

Senator Dick Durbin, 81, who is stepping down, has served as a prominent figure in the Senate’s progressive faction for years, consistently advocating for immigrant protections and championing legislation to provide citizenship pathways for childhood arrivals. The candidates seeking to succeed Durbin have embraced immigration reform, particularly targeting ICE, as Trump’s approval ratings on immigration have dropped from 50% last year to 39% by late February, according to Reuters/Ipsos surveys.

Congressman Raja Krishnamoorthi advocates to “abolish Trump’s ICE.” Lieutenant Governor Juliana Stratton, who participated in protests during Chicago deportation operations last fall, supports completely eliminating the agency. Representative Robin Kelly has proposed the most extensive changes, suggesting the Department of Homeland Security, ICE’s parent agency, should be “dismantled,” and calling for the impeachment of outgoing secretary Kristi Noem.

“Given that the policy differences are relatively minor, the differentiation is the edge in which you’re bringing the opposition,” said Ruth Bloch Rubin, an associate professor of political science at the University of Chicago.

The primary victor will compete against one of six Republican candidates, though political experts consider the seat safely Democratic. Krishnamoorthi, a centrist first elected to Congress in 2016, held a 22-point lead over Stratton in Emerson College’s January survey and had accumulated over $30 million compared to Stratton’s $4 million and Kelly’s $3.3 million by February’s end, according to Federal Election Commission data.

Recent polling shows Stratton gaining ground after Governor JB Pritzker donated $5 million to her campaign via his family’s political action committee, funding advertisements featuring endorsers including Senator Tammy Duckworth using profanity directed at Trump.

Some political experts worry that hardline anti-ICE positions could harm Democrats in national contests. Trump secured the presidency in 2024 promising comprehensive immigration enforcement, and in 2020, Republicans successfully weaponized progressive “defund the police” messaging against Democratic congressional candidates.

However, Durbin’s history of supporting immigration reform and Chicago’s substantial, politically engaged immigrant population have made this a significant Illinois issue for years. The topic gained additional prominence since 2022, when Texas Governor Greg Abbott began transporting thousands of immigrants from the Mexican border to Chicago, straining municipal resources.

Last summer, the Trump administration deployed additional federal immigration agents to the city and attempted National Guard activation, which federal district court blocked. During the chaotic, extended operation, agents used tear gas in residential areas, detained protesters, and shot two individuals, fatally wounding Silverio Villegas Gonzalez, a Mexican father of two. Pritzker, considered a potential 2028 presidential candidate, characterized the surge as an “occupation” and established a commission to investigate alleged agent misconduct.

Stratton, whose 10-year-old daughter’s Chicago school was locked down twice due to nearby ICE operations, joined her community’s rapid response network and participated in demonstrations against Trump’s policies. “It’s not even about immigration. It’s to instill fear, and it’s a part of his authoritarian agenda,” Stratton said. She argued that congressional Democrats’ failure to restrain Trump’s immigration tactics should prevent her opponents from advancing to the Senate.

Following federal agents’ fatal shooting of U.S. citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in Minneapolis, both Kelly and Krishnamoorthi opposed legislation funding additional Homeland Security resources and supported Senate Democrats in forcing a month-long partial department shutdown. “You can’t wear masks. You have to have cameras on. You can’t just kidnap people off the street. You can’t just go to people’s homes without a warrant. We need to dismantle and rebuild,” Kelly said.

Krishnamoorthi, born in New Delhi and raised in Peoria, Illinois, describes his opposition to Trump’s immigration policies as deeply personal. His vocal criticism has drawn attacks, including after ICE agents prevented him from inspecting an immigration facility in suburban Chicago that became a site of daily confrontations between protesters and federal agents. A Florida city council member subsequently called for mass deportation of Indian immigrants and labeled Krishnamoorthi a “foreign occupier.”

“I’m a racial, religious and ethnic minority and an immigrant with 29 letters in my name. I care deeply about making sure that nobody gets otherized, whoever they are, including immigrants. And I want immigrants to feel like this is home, that this is where they belong,” he said.

Stratton has criticized Krishnamoorthi’s campaign for receiving Republican donor contributions, including from Shyam Sankar, chief technology officer of Palantir, a Homeland Security contractor. In January, the campaign announced Krishnamoorthi had donated $29,300 in Sankar contributions received since 2015 to Illinois immigrant advocacy organizations.