Michigan U.S. Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is sharing his thoughts on Immigration and Custom Enforcement, an agency he alleges is “turning kids into functional orphans.”
In a Saturday interview with the Head in the Office podcast, the former Wayne County health director mocked 75 House Democrats who voted with Republicans earlier this month to “express gratitude” for ICE agents carrying out the largest deportation operation in U.S. history.
“Just to be clear, the only ice I’ve ever had gratitude for is the one that’s in my drink on a hot day,” El-Sayed told hosts Jeremy and Gage. “That’s the only ice I’ve ever really appreciated.”
WATCH: #MISen Dem candidate Abdul El-Sayed on ICE deporting criminal illegal aliens:
“The only ice I’ve ever had gratitude for is the one that’s on my drink on a hot day…that’s the only ice I’ve ever really appreciated.” pic.twitter.com/jbHmnidsIf
— Nick Puglia (@nickpuglia) June 24, 2025
The 40-year-old alleged President Donald Trump is “making a show out of enforcing against immigrants” while Democrats are “afraid” to push back in a meaningful way.
“The Democrats are so afraid to touch the issue, because we’re afraid of our own shadow,” he said.
El-Sayed ignored the Trump administration’s successful efforts to remove thousands of criminal illegal immigrants who have committed heinous crimes, and focused instead on folks who risked their families by living in the country illegally.
“You’ve got kids in the United States of America who are full-blooded American citizens born here, who are having their parents deported and that is ostensibly for the good of the American public,” he said. “So we’re turning our kids into functional orphans, because of public safety?”
The comments follow the June 9 approval of a House resolution condemning antisemitism and expressing gratitude for ICE and other law enforcement that was backed by 75 Democrats, including El-Sayed’s competition in the U.S. Senate race, Rep. Haley Stevens, D-Birmingham.
The resolution, approved amid anti-ICE riots in Los Angeles, “affirms that free and open communication between State and local law enforcement and their federal counterparts remains the bedrock of public safety and is necessary in preventing terrorist attacks; and expresses gratitude to law enforcement officers, including U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement personnel, for protecting the homeland,” Newsweek reports.
El-Sayed’s comments on Saturday follow others that make it clear he’s more focused on fighting the 47th POTUS than improving the lives of Michiganders.
As many Michigan Democrats celebrated Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s successful efforts to lobby Trump for a new fighter jet mission at Selfridge Air National Guard Base, locking in $850 million a year for the state’s economy and 30,000 jobs, El-Sayed suggested obstructing Trump should take precedent over landing deals that benefit the folks he’s campaigning to represent.
“What I’m really focused on is standing up to this president to remind him that he is an elected president, not a king and not a tyrant,” El-Sayed told The New York Times. “I think it’s critical that we focus on those issues right now.”
Sen. Gary Peters, the Bloomfield Township Democrat El-Sayed is running to replace, offered a much different take on Trump’s “exciting announcement.”
“After years of persistent work and advocacy, and as someone who had the privilege to drill alongside the dedicated men and women who serve at Selfridge, I am thrilled to welcome this exciting announcement,” Peters wrote in a statement. “I have long said that Selfridge Air National Guard Base is a top-tier asset to our nation’s military and the ideal location for an advanced fighter mission.”
