There needs to be some kind of immigration enforcement just to handle the processing of people as they complete the immigration process. This requires some level of funding, and due to inflation and growing populations it will always result in record breaking funding at some point.

Democrats were denouncing ICE in 2017-2020 because the administration was ordering ICE to pursue practices like stealing children. They are denouncing them now because ICE is kidnapping people off the street and when they show up for court hearings when they are complying with court orders.

This list implies that the Dems are wrong for ever funding ICE and that they are hypocrites for complaining when Republicans are in power. But it glosses over the nuance that ICE really is used far more maliciously when Trump is in power and that denouncing of the specific actions of ICE are completely valid because those are their jackboot thug years.

Dems are shitty on immigration because they are complicit with lowering immigration maximums and excluding too many people while not promoting reforms that improve how ICE behaves. But it isn’t the same thing as supporting the ICEstappo when in office, because they dial it back to a shitty level instead of full on villain mode.