The temperature around Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) just spiked thanks to Sen. Ruben Gallego. After the deadly ICE shooting in Minneapolis, the Arizona Democrat says the agency may need to be rebuilt from scratch. In Washington, Congress really is approaching a funding deadline that could put ICE on the chopping block.
Gallego was on CNN’s State of the Union on Jan. 18. There, he said, ICE has become a “goon squad,” and is primarily considered a threat. If reforms aren’t written into the Department of Homeland Security’s next spending bill, Gallego is prepared to freeze funding.
Yes, even if that shuts down this portion of the government.
Gallego: “I think ICE needs to be totally torn down. People want immigration enforcement that goes after criminals and focuses on criminals, not the goon squad that has come from Stephen Miller and Donald Trump.” pic.twitter.com/auHmw2x2qd
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 18, 2026
Gallego sits on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee. He argued that immigration enforcement doesn’t have to look like this.
He spoke about the time when he was campaigning in Arizona, which is a border state with some of the country’s most authoritarian immigration policies and said voters want targeted enforcement of serious criminals.
ICE, Gallego advised, should be rebuilt “in the image of what people want,” and with warrants. He also said that they must not cover their faces, that make them look like a “Third World police force.” Gallego also said he agrees with Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut, who said Congress must use the DHS budget to control the federal government’s lawlessness.
What Gallego said is part of the fallout from the Jan. 7, 2026, killing of Renee Nicole Good. An ICE agent in Minneapolis shot the 37-year-old mother of three. She was later pronounced dead.
New video is out with a clear view of the front of Good’s vehicle.
It shows clearly that ICE agents were never at risk of bodily harm.
It’s clear now that a mom was executed for the crime of dropping her child off at school at the wrong place and time.pic.twitter.com/R1eZh6nEQO
— Joshua Reed Eakle 🗽 (@JoshEakle) January 9, 2026
Her death led to vigils in North Carolina, where immigrant rights groups say Good was only documenting ICE activity. Since then, demonstrators have been pepper-sprayed, and an agent even shot a man in the leg after being attacked with a shovel.
Gallego tells us that what will happen in Arizona we have already seen in California and Illinois. He said the operations are an effort by Trump administration adviser Stephen Miller to “punish blue cities.” Gallego believes that a targeted government freeze by cutting off funding can help. He said the agency is racially profiling people, and poorly trained agents are being violent.
Do you think ICE is still serving the public, or has it become something else entirely?
