What the Coverage Leaves Out About the Reimagining Safety Act

A recent article, from Yahoo News, summarizes Rep. Ramirez’s bill and press statement. It correctly lists where FEMA, CISA, TSA, the Coast Guard, and customs would go, and it correctly says the bill is unlikely to pass. But it reads like a restatement of the sponsor’s announcement, and the most serious provisions never appear.

What it leaves out or gets wrong

1. The counterterrorism provisions are missing entirely. The article’s only use of the word “terrorist” is the sponsor’s quote about people wrongly labeled as terrorists. It never mentions that the bill repeals the terrorism inadmissibility ground (INA §212(a)(3)(B)) and ends the Foreign Terrorist Organization designation power after one year (Sec. 304(c)(2)). It also omits the fusion center funding ban, the repeal of national security letters, the watchlist limits, and the end of existing IEEPA sanctions after 180 days.

2. The release has no carve-out, and the article doesn’t say so. It reports that the Attorney General must release detainees within six months. It never says the text has no exception for violent offenders (Sec. 302(a)). The only mention of dangerous criminals is a DHS spokesperson’s reply, which the article presents as a partisan complaint.

3. “Congress would have to pass a joint resolution” gets one sentence and no explanation. The requirement applies to each person (Sec. 106(b)). ICE reported 442,637 removals in fiscal 2025. No Congress can approve that many resolutions one at a time, so in practice deportation stops. *

4. The money passage is garbled. The article says money DHS “does not spend” on immigration enforcement would be rescinded and redirected. The text rescinds the unobligated balances of immigration enforcement funds (Sec. 402(a)), and Sec. 402(b) only authorizes them to be appropriated for a list of programs. Nothing is “redirected,” no cost is estimated, and no funding source is identified.

5. “Disband CBP” is repeated without checking the text. CBP appears only where customs functions move to Treasury (Sec. 104), field offices become assistance centers (Sec. 101(d)(5)), and the tower program ends (Sec. 301(a)(3)). Border Patrol, the Secret Service, Homeland Security Investigations, Intelligence and Analysis, and the Federal Protective Service are never named. The article’s list of where agencies go implies a complete plan, and there is no effective date.

6. “A separate civil immigration system” is two study panels. Sec. 402(f)-(g) only call for panels due in a year. Enforcement ends first. USCIS already has a record 12.1 million pending cases, and the bill moves USCIS to DOJ with no provision on processing capacity. **

7. The privacy provision is presented as a pure positive. The data-purchase warrant requirement (Sec. 304(b)(2)) has no exception for open public data. The article doesn’t mention that.

8. The sourcing is one-sided. It lists more than 40 backing organizations and gives one DHS spokesperson the only response. There is no national security expert, budget analyst, or law enforcement voice, and no CBO estimate.

9. “Community-designed” is not accountability. The sponsor faults DHS for weak oversight, yet the new Department has no Inspector General, and the grants have no performance metrics, audits, or clawbacks. The office that runs the violence prevention grants also publishes the research evaluating them.

The key security threats

Dangerous offenders released and can’t be removed. Sec. 302(a), 302(b)(4)-(5), 303, and 106(b).
Terrorism screening and designation tools repealed. Sec. 304(c)(2) and 301(a)(4).
Missions left unassigned. Border Patrol, the Secret Service, HSI (trafficking and child exploitation), and intelligence analysis.
Border security weakened. The wall is barred, towers end, and the bill is silent on who does security screening at the border.
Election and local cooperation. Sec. 302(b)(10) repeals deportability for unlawful voting, and Sec. 302(b)(8)-(9) and 304(a) end information sharing and 287(g).
Guantánamo. Sec. 304(c)(1) closes it in 60 days and releases every detainee.

The key financial threats

Unfunded commitments. Sec. 402(b) lists Medicare for All, universal basic income, free college, and loan forgiveness with no cost estimates. The bill authorizes rather than appropriates, so the risk is a promise Congress can’t fund [independent estimates for Medicare for All alone exceed $30 trillion over a decade; verify].
Transition costs. Splitting a department of roughly 250,000 employees across four agencies, with no phase-in, plus contract terminations for convenience (Sec. 301(b)(5)).
Fraud and waste. No Inspector General, no metrics, no audits, and a recovery fund with no verification safeguards.
Sanctions. IEEPA emergency sanctions end after 180 days unless Congress acts (Sec. 304(c)(2)(C)).
Backlog costs. Delays cost employers, families, and taxpayers.

The alternative

Angel Oakley agrees with the sponsor on better disaster response, stronger oversight of federal agencies, and privacy. She supports cooperation among federal, state, and local officials, striking the provisions that release criminals, a negotiated Dignity framework built on background checks, and automated approval of clean applications to clear the backlog.

Debate invitation: Rep. Ramirez has described this bill as built with the community. Angel invites her to explain it, section by section, in a public debate.

-----Below is the Yahoo News Article referenced above-----
https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/delia-ramirez-wants-abolish-ice-121717916.html

Delia Ramirez Wants to Abolish ICE, CBP and the Entire Department of Homeland Security

Terra Watts

Rep. Delia Ramirez of Illinois introduced a bill on Tuesday that would dissolve the Department of Homeland Security, scrap Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and create a new Cabinet department called the Department of Community Safety.

Among other things, the Reimagining Safety Act would disband U.S. Customs and Border Protection, redirect money currently allocated to immigration enforcement to social programs, and begin establishing a separate civil immigration system.

Ramirez, the lead Democrat on a House Homeland Security subcommittee, said community groups helped craft the legislation. Her office said it is the first case of community stakeholders designing a Cabinet department.

The bill is highly unlikely to pass Congress, which is controlled by Republicans. It comes three weeks ahead of the November 3 midterm elections, when immigration policy is expected to play a role in voters' decisions.

In a press statement, Ramirez laid out the reasons why, in her view, the department fails.

"Every person dead in detention, shot or killed by ICE and CBP, every neighbor deported to a third country, every family separated, every community FEMA failed, every miscarriage due to substandard care, every dissenter wrongfully branded, targeted, and persecuted as 'terrorist,' and every threat against our elections by Trump, Markwayne, and Miller is a reason DHS must be dismantled and something new must take its place," Ramirez said. "There are more than a million reasons to take action today."

She meant President Donald Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin, and White House advisor Stephen Miller.

"DHS was founded out of a profound national trauma, established to violate our rights under the pretense of securing our safety," she said. "But we cannot add new pains to old ones."

Congress established DHS in 2002 following the Sept. 11 attacks, combining 22 federal agencies into one department. Ramirez's bill would repeal the Homeland Security Act of 2002 and dismantle the department.

Federal Emergency Management Agency and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency would be transferred to the new Department of Community Safety. The Transportation Security Administration and the Coast Guard would move to the Transportation Department, and customs duties would transfer to the Treasury Department.

Immigration enforcement would move to the Justice Department. Only the attorney general or deputy attorney general would have the authority to start deportation proceedings, and Congress would have to pass a joint resolution before any noncitizen could be deported.

The attorney general would have six months to release people from immigration detention and strip immigrants of ankle bracelets used for electronic monitoring. Within two years, all detention contracts would be canceled. The agreements between local law enforcement and the federal government allowing local police to enforce immigration laws, so-called 287(g) agreements, would be terminated.

The bill would also close the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay within 60 days, stop construction of the border wall, and end the Pentagon program providing local police with excess military equipment. Federal agencies would require a judicial warrant to collect residents' data from commercial vendors.

Money DHS does not spend on immigration enforcement would be rescinded and redirected to healthcare, housing, childcare, food, public education, climate change programs, safe migration, and economic opportunities. The bill would provide $250 million a year for the new Office of Community Violence Prevention and establish a National Social Service Corps.

Stakeholder panels would recommend a plan to abolish the Justice Department's office that operates immigration courts and replace it with an independent court system.

Ramirez first announced the bill on Sept. 23 at the event attended by Illinois officials, advocacy groups, and community members.

Democratic Reps. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, Adelita Grijalva of Arizona, and Jim McGovern of Massachusetts.

More than 40 national and local organizations have backed the bill, including the American Friends Service Committee, the League of United Latin American Citizens, National Nurses United, the Center for Constitutional Rights, Mijente, Detention Watch Network, and the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights.

The Department of Homeland Security criticized the proposal. A spokesperson told Newsweek that Ramirez should thank law enforcement for removing dangerous criminals from her district instead of vilifying the officers and said such rhetoric contributed to the 1,300 percent increase in assaults on agents.

Ramirez said the new department would represent a different concept of public safety.

"Instead of the weapon DHS has proven to be, we need a department built on the best parts of who we are and can be, and the best examples of how we can take care of each other in hard times," she said. "I am proud to have led that work with the organizations in my district and nationally."

"Building something new, creating in a time of destruction, is a revolutionary act," Ramirez stated. "It is proof of our hope and belief in what is possible even in dark times. A different world is possible because the people have the power to reshape our government and reimagine how we cultivate safety and collective well-being."

The post Delia Ramirez Wants to Abolish ICE, CBP and the Entire Department of Homeland Security

What the Coverage Leaves Out About the Reimagining Safety Act