Schumer calls ICE a rogue agency as progressives demand abolition

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer told CNN on February 15, 2026, that ICE had become "a rogue agency" that was "trained to be nasty and cruel," calling for agents to remove masks, carry identification, and be subject to cameras. Schumer and House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries simultaneously sent a letter to Republican leadership demanding ten reforms to ICE conduct as a condition of future DHS funding. Representative Pramila Jayapal and progressive Democrats went further, calling for defunding ICE entirely in response to the Minneapolis killings.