Democratic Rep. Delia Ramirez is set to introduce a bill barring the Department of Homeland Security from using detention centers or contracting with new ones.
The funds would be redirected to cover health and human services, particularly for communities impacted by immigration enforcement operations, according to NBC News.
"They believe that there's no limit to what they could do, there's no limit to their lawlessness and that as long as they're masked up and the president continues to justify and call them heroes, they can do anything," Ramirez said.
The lawmaker acknowledged that the bill has slim chances of passing, but noted it is key for her party to start building a case against ICE ahead of the midterm elections later this year.
"You hear the desperation of our people over and over. What do they say: 'What the hell is Congress doing? Why won't they stand up for us? Who is fighting for us? Who will defend us? How could this be legal?'" Ramirez added.
"To me, it's really important for us to demonstrate a sense of urgency, especially right now. Waiting until January of next year to begin introducing, building support, building a case for this is too damn late for us."
Ramirez's is not the only effort against the agency. One hundred House Democrats have now signed to co-sponsor articles of impeachment against DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, said Rep. Robin Kelly, who introduced the articles.
She noted in a press release that the amount of lawmakers who signed on doubled compared to last week. She said the support is a result of people seeing "ICE's Gestapo-like tactics firsthand."
"As Secretary Noem continues to lie, obstruct Congress, and violate people's civil rights, the support for her impeachment only grows. I urge my colleagues on the other side of the aisle to be on the right side of the law and our Constitution," she added. The number of co-sponsor amounts to almost half of all the Democratic caucus, which has 2013 members. Kelly expects the number to grow further.
The initiative has has garnered far more support than other such attempts as criticism of Noem surged after the shooting of Renee Good in Minneapolis.
The articles of impeachment in question accuse Noem of three counts: Obstruction of Congress, Violation of public trust and Self-dealing.
The first one involves cases when lawmakers were prevented from entering DHS facilities and withheld congressionally appropriated disaster relief funding. The second is in regards ICE's denial of due process and violation of First and Fourth amendments to detainees. And the third involves reports that Noem awarded $220 million in contracts to a firm run by the husband of her top spokesperson.
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