Maine Democratic Senate candidate Troy Jackson pledged Thursday to cut off funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), arguing the agency cannot be reformed and should have its law enforcement responsibilities transferred to Customs and Border Protection (CBP).

Jackson, a logger from Allagash and former president of the Maine Senate, made the remarks during a televised debate hosted by WMTW while facing Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who is seeking a sixth term. The discussion centered on whether Congress should continue funding ICE and what restrictions lawmakers should impose on the agency.

“This agency is so rogue that I don’t know that it can be reformed,” Jackson said, pointing to fatal shootings involving ICE agents. He argued that the agency’s reputation had been damaged by those incidents and said its conduct should not be considered legitimate law enforcement.

“If I had the opportunity, I would put that law enforcement in Customs and Border Patrol,” Jackson continued. He said CBP had previously handled cases involving sex trafficking and drug smuggling while maintaining greater public legitimacy.

“But what we have right now is not legitimate law enforcement, and I would cut the funding off for them,” he added.

Jackson’s proposal would eliminate funding for ICE and shift its duties to another federal agency rather than simply impose additional reforms. His comments followed the July fatal shooting of Johan Sebastián Durán Guerrero, a 25-year-old Colombian national, in Biddeford, Maine.

The Maine Attorney General’s Office identified the man as Durán Guerrero and reported that he had a final order of removal. Reports on the incident also noted that the agents involved were not wearing body cameras.

Collins rejected Jackson’s call to abolish ICE, arguing that the agency performs essential public safety functions, including deporting violent criminal offenders and investigating child exploitation, drug smuggling, international cartels and financial crimes.

“We need to reform ICE further. There’s no doubt about that,” Collins said. “But we cannot completely abolish ICE, as Troy has called for many times.”

The Republican senator cited the agency’s role in removing violent offenders from the country and questioned whether eliminating it would make Americans less safe. Collins, who chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee, has argued that accountability measures can address concerns about ICE without dismantling the agency.

Collins also pointed to $20 million she secured for body-worn cameras, presenting the investment as a way to improve oversight of immigration enforcement operations.

Jackson countered that the camera funding lacked sufficient safeguards, arguing that footage would not necessarily be made public. He claimed the rules allow recordings to remain unreleased unless doing so is considered in ICE’s best interest.

The dispute reflects a broader divide in Maine’s Democratic Party over immigration enforcement. Shenna Bellows, Maine’s Democratic secretary of state, called for abolishing ICE in July before exiting the Senate race. Bellows told CNN that Democrats needed to defeat Collins “because we do need to abolish ICE.”

Jackson replaced Graham Platner as the Democratic nominee in July. His comments Thursday put the future of federal immigration enforcement directly at the center of his campaign against Collins, who has defended retaining ICE while pursuing additional accountability measures.