Greg Casar: The Progressive Caucus Chair Who Won't Fund ICE
Greg Casar is the son of Mexican immigrants and now chairs the largest bloc on the left of the House. He has said he is a "hell no" on any bill that funds Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
- Origin
- Mexico
- Pathway
- U.S.-born (2nd gen)
- Citizenship
- U.S.-born citizen
- Religion
- Catholic
- Caucus
- Progressive Caucus
- First elected
- 2022
Key Findings
Greg Casar was born in Houston in 1989, the son of Mexican immigrants. He served on the Austin City Council, won a House seat in 2022, and in January 2025 became chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
He represents Texas's 35th district, which runs along the interstate from Austin toward San Antonio and was 16.8% foreign-born as of 2024.
His DW-NOMINATE first-dimension score is −0.426 and his Heritage Action score is 0%.
He has said he is a "hell no" on any bill that funds ICE, pressed for federal investigations of immigration raids in Texas, and backs a citizenship pathway for the roughly 11 million immigrants in the country illegally.
Greg Casar runs the left of the House. As chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus he speaks for the largest ideological bloc in the chamber, and on immigration his position is the clearest in the caucus. He will not vote to fund the agency that enforces the border.
Austin, second generation
Casar was born in Houston in 1989 to Mexican immigrants.[1] He became a labor organizer, then won a seat on the Austin City Council in 2014, where he built a record on the city's left. He was elected to the 35th district's House seat in 2022. The district is drawn along the I-35 corridor to connect the Latino neighborhoods of Austin and San Antonio, and it was 16.8% foreign-born as of 2024.[2]
His rise on the left was fast. In December 2024 his colleagues elected him chair of the Progressive Caucus, the bloc that had been led by Pramila Jayapal.[1] He took the post at 35.
The record
Casar votes at the left edge of the House. His DW-NOMINATE first-dimension score is −0.426, and his Heritage Action score is 0%.[3][4] He was an original cosponsor of Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and the PRO Act, the labor bill at the center of the party's left.[1]
His relationship with organized socialism is more complicated than the label suggests. As a city councilman he called himself a proud member of the Austin Democratic Socialists of America. In February 2022 the Austin chapter cut ties with him, after he declined to support the movement to boycott Israel and backed military aid to the country.[1] The break is worth noting, because it shows the limits of the label. His voting record, not his affiliations, is the record that matters.
Against enforcement
Casar's immigration position is built on the budget. He has stated plainly that if a bill to fund Immigration and Customs Enforcement reaches the floor, he is "a hell no."[5] After a series of immigration raids in Texas in 2025, he demanded a federal investigation of an East Austin construction-site operation and pressed the Homeland Security Department for the locations of the raids and the identities of the agents.[6]
He has not used the slogan of abolishing ICE, and it would be inaccurate to put it in his mouth. His stated goal is a citizenship pathway for the roughly 11 million immigrants living in the country illegally, an end to what he calls an inhumane enforcement system, and no more money for the agencies that carry it out.[5] After the East Austin raid he said the administration had promised to pursue dangerous people and was instead "going after dads at the job site."[6]
The framing is consistent across the caucus he leads. Enforcement is cast as cruelty. The population in the country illegally is cast as a group to be legalized rather than removed. A member who will not fund the enforcement agencies has set himself against the machinery the country built to control who stays.
Defunding as a program
Casar has chosen the budget as his instrument. A caucus chair who tells his party he is "a hell no" on any ICE appropriation is not staging a protest. He is trying to starve the enforcement agencies of the money they need to operate, and he leads the bloc large enough to make that threat count on the House floor. His stated end state is a citizenship pathway for the roughly 11 million people in the country illegally and no funding for the agencies that would otherwise remove them.
The 35th district was drawn to connect the Latino neighborhoods of Austin and San Antonio, and it was 16.8% foreign-born in 2024. It sent the youngest Progressive Caucus chair in memory to Washington to legalize the population that entered illegally and defund the machinery built to control who stays.
Sources
- Greg Casar, biography and Progressive Caucus chairmanship; The Texas Tribune, "Greg Casar elected Congressional Progressive Caucus chair" - born in Houston in 1989 to Mexican immigrants; Austin City Council; CPC chair from January 2025; Medicare for All, Green New Deal, and PRO Act
- Data USA, Congressional District 35, Texas (American Community Survey) - 16.8% foreign-born as of 2024
- DW-NOMINATE first-dimension scores, voteview.com - Greg Casar −0.426 (119th Congress)
- Heritage Action Scorecard - Greg Casar 0%
- Axios Austin, "Greg Casar on ICE funding"; Greg Casar, immigration positions - "a hell no" on ICE funding; citizenship pathway for the population in the country illegally
- CBS Austin, "Austin congressman calls for investigation following ICE construction-site raid" - demand for a federal investigation; "going after dads at the job site"