Many – but not all – of the Democratic candidates for Illinois’ largely suburban 9th Congressional District seat believe the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency should be abolished.
Some favor reforming the controversial agency rather than breaking it up and assigning its responsibilities to other organizations. Others suggested no changes to the way ICE enforces U.S. immigration law.
Fourteen candidates are seeking the Democratic nomination in the 9th District, which includes parts of Cook, Lake and McHenry counties. They are Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss; state Sens. Laura Fine of Glenview and Mike Simmons of Chicago; state Rep. Hoan Huynh of Chicago; Skokie school board member Bushra Amiwala; Wilmette resident Phil Andrew; Evanston residents Patricia A. Brown, Jeff Cohen, Bethany Johnson, and Nick Pyati; and Chicagoans Kat Abughazaleh, Justin Ford, Mark Fredrickson and Sam Polan.
Longtime Democratic U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky of Evanston isn’t seeking reelection.
The candidates spoke about U.S. immigration policy and other issues in video interviews with the Daily Herald this month.
Opposition to ICE and President Donald Trump’s campaign against immigrants living in the U.S. illegally has been a tent-pole issue for several of the candidates, some of whom have protested outside the ICE facility in Broadview.
Abughazaleh is among the six demonstrators facing federal charges alleging they impeded a federal agent from doing his job when they surrounded his moving vehicle in September 2025. All have pleaded not guilty and await trial.
She said abolishing the agency “is a moral and legal imperative” and called for unspecified ICE personnel to be prosecuted. She also said ICE’s parent department, the Department of Homeland Security, should be dismantled. If elected, Abughazaleh pledged to block any legislation “that would give a cent to ICE.”
Biss, who also protested in Bridgeview and is using images of his well-publicized faceoff with former Border Patrol leader Gregory Bovino in campaign materials, also said ICE needs to be abolished. He criticized current border control policy as a “deranged effort to intimidate, brutalize and kill people either based on the color of their skin or the language they speak or, now, just the fact that they disagree with Donald Trump.”
Biss defended his participation in protests against Operation Midway Blitz, saying ICE critics “are not going to beat this in the Capitol building alone.”
Simmons said he’s been calling for ICE to be abolished since 2021, when he voted in support of Illinois’ Trust Act. The law prohibits local law enforcement agencies from participating in immigration enforcement.
Fine also said ICE needs to be abolished, referring to its agents as “Trump’s private army.”
Amiwala, Pyati, Cohen, Johnson and Ford also called for the agency to be eliminated.
Andrew criticized that kind of talk, saying “political slogans don’t solve problems.”
“Protesting in the street and throwing yourself for a political and media moment don’t solve problems, either,” he added.
A former FBI agent, Andrew said he’s worked alongside “a healthy ICE” that followed the Constitution.
The Vietnam-born Huynh recounted being stopped by armed and masked federal agents while following agents in Chicago last fall. But he doesn’t support abolishing the agency. Instead, Huynh said ICE agents need to be held accountable for their actions. He also voiced support for unspecified reforms.
Brown and Polan said they favor reforms, too. The militarization of the agency has escalated tensions, Polan said, and agents should stand down nationwide.
Fredrickson said prison and jail inmates who are undocumented immigrants should be deported “as soon as possible,” and immigration enforcement isn’t a problem outside “sanctuary, sanctimonious cities.”
Four Republicans are running in the GOP primary. Primary Election Day is March 17.
https://www.dailyherald.com/20260212/us-congress-politics/many-but-not-all-9th-congressional-district-democratic-candidates-say-abolish-ice/