Tina Smith, the Democratic Senator from Minnesota, dropped a bombshell on CNN’s “News Central” this Thursday, declaring that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is so irredeemably corrupt it needs to be “torn down to the studs” and rebuilt from scratch. This isn’t some fringe activist rant—it’s a sitting U.S. Senator calling for the virtual demolition of a key federal agency tasked with enforcing immigration laws and protecting national borders. Smith’s words echo the abolish ICE fever dreams of the progressive left, but her vivid construction metaphor amps up the imagery: not just defund or reform, but rip it apart like a condemned house, studs and all. Coming from a politician who’s no stranger to pushing radical policies, this signals escalating anti-enforcement sentiment in D.C., where border security is increasingly treated as optional.
For the 2A community, this isn’t just another blue-state fever dream—it’s a flashing red warning light on the slippery slope from dismantling ICE to eroding all constitutional protections. ICE isn’t solely about deportations; it’s deeply intertwined with ATF operations, joint task forces targeting gun trafficking across porous borders, and operations like Project Safe Neighborhoods that trace firearms linked to cartel violence spilling into American communities. If Smith gets her way and ICE is gutted, expect a cascade: weakened border controls mean more unvetted migrants, heightened cartel gun-running (think ghost guns and smuggled military-grade hardware), and emboldened criminals who exploit chaos to flout federal firearms laws. We’ve already seen Biden-era border policies flood communities with fentanyl and violence—now imagine that without ICE’s muscle. 2A advocates know this playbook: demonize and defund one enforcement arm, and the next target is the ATF’s overreach or local sheriffs upholding carry rights. Smith’s rhetoric normalizes institutional sabotage, paving the way for gun-grabbers to argue that corrupt agencies like ICE (or by extension, armed federal agents) can’t be trusted with public safety tools like firearms.
The implications scream urgency for pro-2A patriots: midterm messaging must hammer home how open-borders extremism directly threatens self-defense rights. When elites like Smith cheerlead for tearing down border enforcers, they’re handing ammo to cartels and criminals who don’t respect red lines—or Second Amendment sanctuaries. Rally your networks, flood airwaves with the facts, and vote like your holster depends on it, because in this borderless vision, it just might.
