Apparently, an initiative is gaining steam to abolish the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency. The main arguments presented appear to be the recent controversy over its agents separating children and parents at the US-Mexico border and general perception of the agency as opaque and given to various human rights abuses.
Personally, I see some massive hypocrisy here - specifically, that ICE has existed for a number of years, as abusive as it is now if not worse - and yet only now is this becoming a problem. But no matter - I support this. I do want government transparency across the board - and I have no issue with ICE being the first government agency being sacrificed to achieve it. Even if what's behind it is irrationally negative perception of our current President colloquially referred to as the "Trump derangement syndrome".
Should this come to pass, we may set a very valuable precedent: a government agency can indeed be disbanded. And if no catastrophe ensues (as I suspect it won't) - even better, we will have experimental data showing that government can be curtailed, and things won't get worse - they may indeed even get better!
So, ironically enough, even though I suspect most of those in support of this measure are big government proponents, they may set in motion a chain of events that is going to prove them wrong and result in what I personally view as much needed reduction in the privileges, scope and reach of the government.
So let's abolish ICE. Hopefully FEMA is next. And then... well, you get the drift - there's plenty of government parasites we can do without. So let us experimentally show this is indeed the path!
References
Where does the Massachusetts delegation stand on the calls to abolish ICE?
Nik DeCosta-Klipa, Boston Globe, 2 July 2018
4 Questions About The Call To Abolish ICE
Mara Liasson, NPR, 3 July 2018
Ill and in Pain, Detainee Dies in U.S. Hands - The New York Times
Nina Bernstein, New York Times, 12 August 2008
Hurricane Katrina: Remembering the Federal Failures
Chris Edwards, CATO Institute, 27 August 2015
Half Of Hurricane Harvey Victims Say FEMA Application Was Denied Or Is Still Pending
Dominique Mosbergen, Huffington Post, 6 December 2017
