Democratic National Committee members meeting in Austin, Texas this weekend backed two competing visions for the future of immigration enforcement in the same afternoon — voting to advance both a resolution calling for ICE's abolition and a rival measure calling for the agency's reform, a split that laid bare the party's deepening divide over how far left to move on immigration heading into the 2028 cycle.

The DNC's Resolutions Committee voted 25-12 to advance the measure calling for ICE's abolishment, according to the Washington Times, while a separate resolution calling for "concrete reforms" to the agency passed by voice vote. Both measures were introduced by Louisiana DNC member Michele Johnson. Neither resolution is binding on Democratic officeholders or presidential candidates — DNC resolutions function as statements of party sentiment, not platform law — but they carry symbolic weight in a party still working out how aggressively to confront the Trump administration's immigration enforcement expansion.

Establishment vs. Insurgents

"I THINK ONE OF THE REASONS WHY PEOPLE ARE NOT TRUSTING THE PARTY IS BECAUSE WE SOUND SO ACADEMIC."

That was Johnson's pitch for the abolition resolution, arguing Democrats needed to "take a position" rather than hedge. She found pushback from within her own party: DNC member Yvonne Reeves-Chong voted against the abolition measure, warning it risked energizing one faction while alienating others at a moment when Democrats need to be unified. "I would strongly suggest we get to the business of winning races so we can make the policies that make a difference," Reeves-Chong said, according to ABC News's wire report on the meeting.

The fight over ICE's future has intensified since a series of fatal shootings involving ICE agents in July, which unified Democratic anger at the agency's conduct even as the party remains split on strategy — abolish the agency outright, as the party's progressive wing has pushed since 2018, or work to rein in its tactics through legislation and oversight while keeping some version of federal immigration enforcement intact. Newsweek notes the vote comes as the Trump administration has continued expanding deportation operations nationwide, adding urgency — and political risk — to how Democrats respond.

The abolition push echoes a slogan that first gained traction among progressive Democrats in 2018, amid backlash to the first Trump administration's family-separation policy at the border, but which most of the party's mainstream leadership — including recent presidential nominees — has kept at arm's length. This weekend's vote marks the furthest the DNC's own governing body has gone toward formally embracing it.

The dueling votes came during the same weekend the DNC also finalized its 2028 primary calendar, underscoring how thoroughly this summer's Austin gathering has doubled as an early staging ground for the party's next presidential cycle. Republicans wasted little time seizing on the abolition vote as a general-election liability, framing it as evidence the Democratic Party has been pulled toward its left flank — a line of attack Democratic strategists have warned could resurface in swing-district races in 2026 and beyond.

Because the resolutions carry no legal force, their practical effect will depend on whether congressional Democrats or the party's eventual 2028 nominee choose to embrace either position. For now, the party's official stance is, officially, both at once.