Ex-Homeland Security secretary under Obama opposes Democrats' calls to abolish ICE

"The reality is that abolishing ICE is not a serious policy proposal; it's about as serious as the claim that Mexico's 'gonna pay for the wall,'" Johnson wrote in a Washington Post op-ed published Friday, referring to President Donald Trump's campaign promise that Mexico would fund the building of a massive wall on the southern border.

The former head of the Department of Homeland Security under President Barack Obama said that the calls to abolish ICE "only serve to sow even greater division in the American public and in its political leadership, damaging any remaining prospect of bipartisan immigration reform."

Johnson also argued that eliminating the immigration enforcement agency, which also investigates drug smuggling and human trafficking across borders, would compromise public safety.

"If Americans don't like ICE's current enforcement polices, the public should demand a change in those policies, or a change in the leaders who promulgate those policies," Johnson wrote.

He warned Democrats that they are providing Trump with a "useful weapon for bludgeoning Democrats politically."

Since progressive candidate Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez beat Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley in the New York primary, running on a platform of abolishing the agency, some lawmakers have echoed her call.

The agency has come under criticism for enforcing the Trump administration's "zero-tolerance" immigration policy at the border and separating parents from their children in order to criminally prosecute the adults for illegally entering the US.

Trump and Vice President Mike Pence have remained supportive of ICE and vowed that the agency would never be dismantled under the administration's leadership.