Sure, I'll explain to you why people think ICE needs to be abolished:
1. ICE is an additional law enforcement arm dedicated solely to address the crime of illegal immigration. That is their modus operandi, it is their main purpose. They sometimes assist other law enforcement groups with addressing other crimes, but that's not their main purpose and also their existence is not necessary to address those crimes.
2. Many people feel that simply crossing the border illegally is not a serious enough offense to require an entire law enforcement arm to hunt people down. That's why some Democrats are suggesting repealing the law that makes illegal immigration a criminal offense instead of a civil offense (it used to be a civil offense). The fact that it is now a criminal offense is what justifies the existence of ICE and allows for the detention we are seeing now.
3. The idea that ICE is necessary to target or apprehend immigrants with histories of violent crime is a fallacy. For one, they don't focus on those migrants (because those migrants are much harder to track down than law-abiding migrants who just want to live normal lives) and because ICE is set up to investigate one crime, and one crime only (illegal entry). The few migrants who HAVE committed violent crimes or DO commit violent crimes here are already going to be dealt with by the law enforcement organizations that are set up to investigate and handle those crimes (local police, FBI, etc.). If someone is CONVICTED of a crime then they are already in the system and we don't need ICE to find them and deport/imprison them because the traditional legal channels can take care of that.
4. Customs and Border Patrol is more necessary than ICE, which is why you don't see many calls to abolish CBP like you do with ICE. The problem with CBP is an institutional/systemic problem that affects most law enforcement agencies in this country, mainly that the culture of the agency breeds racism and cruelty and that the border agents are mostly uneducated and attracted to the position out of a desire to lord power over others. CBp needs serious reform, but you can't abolish the organization as you still need people doing that work.
