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Article snippet: The spotlight on U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is about to become brighter as Congress weighs the Trump administration’s request for a huge spending boost even as a growing number of Democrats want the agency abolished. The administration is pressing Congress for $8.3 billion in discretionary funding for ICE in fiscal 2019 — a $967 million increase over this year’s budget. Democrats are already balking at the figure out of early concern that Republicans will designate the money for bolstering enforcement efforts, including an acceleration of deportations. The Democratic resistance is significant because the Republicans will need support from the other side of the aisle to approve any new spending bills, as the GOP remains divided over fiscal issues. “These allocations continue to prioritize MORE (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee, warned last month. The debate over ICE enforcement, a controversial issue even under former President Obama, has only intensified under Trump, who made a get-tough approach on immigration central to his campaign message in 2016. The subsequent backlash has arrived in the form of Democratic calls to abolish ICE, a once-fringe movement that’s gained steam in recent weeks following the shocking primary defeat of Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a 28-year-old activist who made the elimination of ICE — and the reallocation of its duties — a central component of her ca... Link to the full article to read more