LANSING, Mich. (Michigan News Source) – As Michigan’s U.S. Senate race heats up, Democratic progressive Abdul El-Sayed continues to embrace a position that few candidates are willing to own: abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). On his campaign website, El-Sayed argues the agency “cannot be reformed or retrained” and says it should be dismantled and replaced with a new immigration enforcement structure.

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What that new structure is and if criminals would continue to be arrested has not been identified by El-Sayed. Michigan News Source reached out to his campaign for more clarification on what that new structure would be but they did not return our request for comment.

If ICE is abolished without an equally robust agency assuming its immigration enforcement responsibilities, many of the criminal illegal immigrants highlighted on the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) “Worst of the Worst” list would likely never have been taken into immigration custody. That database highlights illegal aliens arrested by ICE who have been convicted of or accused of serious crimes ranging from homicide and rape to child sexual abuse, drug trafficking and violent assaults.

According to DHS, the goal is to show the public exactly who federal immigration officers are taking into custody.

Abolish ICE and empty the prisons?

That includes 322 offenders arrested in Michigan who were convicted of or accused of crimes such as homicide, rape, child sexual abuse, aggravated assault and drug trafficking. Critics of Abdul El- Sayed’s proposal to abolish ICE argue that dismantling the agency would leave dangerous offenders in Michigan communities unless Congress created another agency with the same authority, personnel and mission to track down, arrest and remove them.

One of those critics includes the Republican National Committee (RNC), which points to El-Sayed wanting to release others from prisons as well. They released a statement recently with RNC Spokesman Hunter Lovell saying, “Abdul El-Sayed would rather empty the prisons than keep murderers and rapists behind bars. His extreme, soft-on-crime agenda would make every Michigan community less safe.”

That criticism takes on added weight when looking at the offenders ICE is already removing from Michigan communities.

Michigan’s “worst” list is hardly made up of paperwork violators.

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The Michigan records paint a picture far removed from immigration paperwork disputes. Across the 322 offenders listed (as of August 6, 2026) in the Michigan pages reviewed, the most common criminal convictions or charges include 37 assault offenses, 36 sex assaults, 23 DUI offenses, 17 larcenies and 16 burglaries. Other recurring crimes include drug trafficking, homicide, armed assaults, illegal re-entry, robbery and numerous weapons offenses.

The offenders came from dozens of countries. Mexico accounted for the largest share with 59 offenders, followed by Cuba and Laos with 21 each, Guatemala with 16 and Venezuela with 13. Many of the arrests occurred after individuals had already accumulated serious criminal records inside the United States. According to the Michigan breakdown, the largest numbers of ICE arrests occurred in Milan, Detroit, Grand Rapids, St. Louis and Coldwater.

A campaign issue with real-world consequences.

The political debate over ICE often centers on raids, detention practices and immigration policy. The DHS “Worst of the Worst” pages instead focus attention on something far less abstract: individual criminal offenders removed from American communities including in Michigan.

With El-Sayed now the Democratic nominee, the obvious question surfaces: If ICE is abolished, what happens to the next “Worst of the Worst” list – and who makes sure those names end up in custody instead of remaining on Michigan streets?