A former strategist for Barack Obama has issued a warning to Democrats: their enthusiasm for the ‘abolish ICE’ movement could be detrimental to the party’s future.

This controversial slogan, a reaction to Donald Trump’s stringent immigration policies, has found favor with some of the most vocal figures on the progressive left, including New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.

The deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti during encounters with border patrol agents in Minneapolis have fueled the demand to dismantle the immigration enforcement agency.

However, Democratic consultant David Axelrod advises candidates to avoid focusing their campaigns on anti-ICE rhetoric.

Axelrod, who has been an advisor to Obama for nearly a decade, warned that this stance could be as damaging to the Democratic Party as the ‘defund the police’ movement was in 2020.

In an interview with CNN’s Boris Sanchez and Brianna Keilar, Axelrod stated, “I think that people believe you should come to the country legally, and if you don’t, there should be some penalty for that.”

‘They do believe that. But I don’t think they want to abolish ICE.’ 

He then compared ‘abolish ICE’ to the ‘defund the police’ movement that followed George Floyd’s death after a Minneapolis cop, Derek Chauvin, knelt on his neck for roughly nine minutes. 

A protestor in Manhattan holds a sign reading ‘abolish ICE’ on Thursday

Protestors are seen gathered in Brooklyn in August 2020 to rally in support of defunding police

Former Barack Obama consultant David Axelrod discussed ‘abolish ICE’ on CNN on Thursday

‘I don’t think most people who said [defund the police] believed that there should be no policing function in cities, but the implication was that there could be,’ he explained.

‘So I don’t think Democrats want to get into that.’ 

In retrospect, the ‘Defund the police’ movement has been widely regarded as damaging to Democrats because it reinforced the Republican narrative that the party is soft on crime. 

The idea of pulling funding from police officers was also unpopular with most Americans, who favored reform over eliminating police officers. 

Axelrod said the same holds true for ICE – people want improvements to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) branch, not a take-down of it. 

‘If it means getting rid of the name ‘ICE,’ which has become a very bad brand, that’s one thing,’ he continued. 

‘[But] if it means that we’re just gonna abandon immigration enforcement, I don’t think Democrats or Republicans would support that in large numbers.’

A Fox poll has revealed that support for abolishing ICE has doubled since 2018, now standing at 36 percent among voters.

Of the Democrats surveyed, 59 percent were on board with the measure. Only 16 percent of Republicans agreed. 

Congressman Shri Thanedar speaks on January 14 next to a picture of Renee Good

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani has voiced his support of abolishing ICE 

Congresswoman Ilhan Omar has made abolishing ICE one of her main priorities

But 59 percent of all voters agreed that ICE is too aggressive – a 10-point jump since July. 

On January 15 – about a week after Good was shot – Congressman Shri Thanedar introduced the Abolish ICE Act. The legislation aims to tear down the agency. 

‘Americans are being terrorized,’ Thanedar said in a statement. ‘We must fundamentally change the way we approach immigration: it’s time to abolish ICE.’

Democratic-socialist Mamdani has backed this ideology, writing on X earlier this week: ‘ICE murdered Renee Good in broad daylight. Less than three weeks later, they killed Alex Pretti, shooting him 10 times. 

‘Every day, we watch as people are ripped from their cars, their homes, their lives. We can’t allow ourselves to look away from this cruelty. Abolish ICE.’ 

Congresswoman Omar, who has been at constant odds with Trump over ICE and his statements about the Somali community, has also supported the movement that Axelrod described as detrimental. 

‘In Congress, I continue to push for ICE to be abolished and replaced with an agency that can defend our national security without criminalizing and brutalizing vulnerable communities,’ she wrote in a statement regarding her stance on immigration.   

‘I am also steadfastly fighting to prevent even one more dollar from going to the Department of Homeland Security that could be used for the continued vilification of immigrants or other practices that violate the fundamental values we hold as a country.’ 

Federal agents are seen above arresting a woman in Minneapolis on Thursday

Protestors are seen above marching through the streets of downtown Minneapolis after Alex Pretti’s death

Alex Pretti was fatally shot during a confrontation with federal agents in Minneapolis 

Axelrod’s CNN discussion comes as the White House has reportedly struck a deal with Democrats to avoid a partial government shutdown over DHS funding. 

‘The only thing that can slow our Country down is another long and damaging Government Shutdown,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday. 

‘Republicans and Democrats in Congress have come together to get the vast majority of the Government funded until September, while at the same time providing an extension to the Department of Homeland Security (including the very important Coast Guard, which we are expanding and rebuilding like never before).’

The administration and Democrats have reportedly agreed to separate DHS funding from the rest of the legislation. 

The department will be funded for two weeks as they continue debating over the Democrats’ demands to tighten the reins on ICE.