Whatever Happened to #Abolish ICE?
In 2018, #AbolishICE was everywhere. Seven years later, the agency is bigger than ever, yet the slogan’s champions are nowhere to be found.
Illustration by Benny Douet.
As Donald Trump clamped down on immigration in early 2017, a mid-level political strategist named Sean McElwee typed two words into Twitter and hit send: #AbolishICE.
At the time, US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) was little understood outside of immigrant rights circles. But McElwee’s tweet — equal parts provocation and serious proposal — sparked a social media wildfire. For a fleeting moment, the slogan became a core demand of the millennial left. In the months leading up to the 2020 presidential primaries, even leading Democrats began echoing the call. And then, almost as quickly, it faded away.
To understand why, you have to rewind to 2016.
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