America is a nation of immigrants and a nation of laws, and these two facts are not in conflict. We must secure our borders and enforce our immigration laws. That is not a question. The question is whether the agency currently doing so is fit for that purpose, and whether the way it operates reflects who we are as Americans. The answer to both questions is no.

The case for replacing ICE is not abstract. It is personal and local. In Northern New York, one of my employees from Venezuela, here legally, was pulled over for speeding. ICE, listening to police scanners, showed up and took over the scene from state police.  ICE arrested him, transferred him to the Batavia detention center, denied him access to legal counsel, and gave him a choice: self-deport or be sent to a prison in El Salvador. He had done nothing to deserve this treatment.  He was here legally. This is not an isolated incident; it reflects a pattern of an agency that has lost the trust of the communities it serves. When people with legal authorization to live and work in this country can be taken off the street and threatened with imprisonment in a foreign country, we are not enforcing the law; we are betraying it.

Few areas of government more clearly illustrate the failure of both political parties than our broken approach to immigration policy. One side ignores the need for enforcement; the other defends abuses that no serious nation committed to its own values should tolerate. What we need is an intelligent and compassionate immigration policy, one that protects Americans and treats immigrants with the dignity every person deserves. That means abolishing ICE and replacing it with a new agency built from the ground up on the right principles. The new agency should enforce immigration law with clear priorities: focusing resources on genuine public safety threats, not on tearing apart families or deporting veterans and long-term residents who contribute to their communities. It should operate under constitutional standards, guarantee access to legal counsel, end the use of for-profit detention facilities whose financial incentives reward cruelty over justice, and prohibit enforcement actions at schools, churches, and hospitals. It should train its personnel in trauma-informed practices, de-escalation, cultural competency, and the civil rights of every person they encounter. And it should be subject to independent oversight with real accountability.

America's values are not a weakness in immigration enforcement; they should be providing the guiding strength. As a lifelong Catholic, I believe compassion is a moral obligation: "Blessed are those who show compassion, for they shall receive mercy." As an American, I believe that the principles defining this nation's greatness — personal freedom, equal justice, human dignity — apply to how we treat everyone within our borders, not just citizens. An immigration system that operates by intimidation, denies due process, and puts people in danger does not make us safer. It makes us less American. We can enforce our laws firmly, fairly, and humanely. We have always had the capacity to do both. We simply need the will to demand it.