A top leader of the Democratic Socialists of America told national television cameras her group wants to abolish the police, empty the prisons, and open the borders — and she predicts most Americans will eventually agree.
Quick Take
- DSA’s official program calls for defunding police “as steps towards fully abolishing the police and prison system”
- National co-chair Megan Romer confirmed on Fox News that the group backs abolishing prisons, ICE, and national borders long-term
- DSA figures repeatedly struggled to answer what would replace police if a woman were raped
- Even socialist-aligned mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani distanced himself from the abolition stance
- A DSA-backed New York Assembly candidate said even child molesters and murderers should get treatment instead of prison
DSA’s Official Platform Calls for Abolition
The Democratic Socialists of America posts its program on its own website under the title “Workers Deserve More!” The document does not soften its language. It calls for demilitarizing police, breaking police unions, and cutting funding “as steps towards fully abolishing the police and prison system which protects the rich and jails the poor”. This is not a fringe activist’s opinion. It is the organization’s stated national plan.
Third Way, a Democrat-aligned think tank, pulled even more specifics from the platform. It quotes DSA language calling to “abolish prisons and police and free all prisoners,” cut police budgets “annually towards zero,” decertify police unions, and disarm officers entirely. These are not vague talking points about reform. They are direct calls to end law enforcement as Americans know it.
Co-Chair Confirms the Goal on National TV
Megan Romer, DSA’s national co-chair, went on Fox News Sunday and did not dodge the question. She confirmed the group backs abolishing prisons, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the nation’s borders as a long-term plan. She also said DSA wants to replace the presidency and the Supreme Court and eventually eliminate national borders altogether. Romer argued Americans will “warm to” these ideas over time, even though polls show no such shift today.
DSA member Frances Gill faced a similar test on local Los Angeles television. When pressed on who would catch a rapist without police, Gill confirmed the group’s goal to defund police and eventually eliminate prisons and jails, but she could not name a clear replacement system. Instead, she pointed to ideas like better street lighting as a public safety substitute for armed law enforcement.
Leaders Struggle to Answer Basic Safety Questions
On Fox News’s “The Five,” hosts pressed DSA leaders on what would happen if their own daughter were assaulted. The guest could not give a straight answer about who would respond. Brian Kilmeade called the DSA a “fringe group” of 150,000 members and warned its agenda would “totally change the country.” Harold Ford Jr., a former Democratic congressman, said flatly that DSA candidates “aren’t Democrats” over their stances on prisons and immigration enforcement.
In a softball interview with Conan Nolan with LA NBC4, DSA leadership representative says she wants to delete the police and get rid of prisons. When Conan Nolan asks a very obvious question about his daughter being raped, she doesn’t want to talk about “hypotheticals”. Talk…
— Michael Trujillo (@mikehtrujillo) August 9, 2026
Not every socialist-aligned figure agrees with full abolition. New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani pushed back on the DSA platform, saying residents “should not have to choose between safety and justice” and stressing that police, prisons, and jails still serve a real purpose. A DSA representative responded that abolition remains “a baseline policy position for the DSA, regardless of what Mamdani is saying.”
The abolition push is already showing up in local races. A DSA-backed Assembly candidate in Harlem, Conrad Blackburn, argued that even people convicted of child sexual assault or murder should go through treatment programs rather than prison. Longtime New York politician Inez Dickens fired back that “Harlem doesn’t need an elected official who thinks rapists and murderers should attend classes instead of serving time in jail.”
These are not isolated comments from low-level activists. They come from the organization’s national co-chair, its written program, and candidates it actively backs for public office. For families who rely on police to answer 911 calls and prosecutors to keep violent offenders locked up, the platform is not an abstract academic debate. It is a stated plan that a growing number of elected Democrats now have to publicly answer for, one interview at a time.
Sources:
yahoo.com, x.com, afn.net, dailymail.com, foxnews.com
