Yassamin Ansari and the Call to Abolish ICE
Yassamin Ansari is the daughter of Iranians who fled the 1979 revolution and the first Iranian-American Democrat in the House. In her first year she joined the Progressive Caucus, backed a citizenship path for Dreamers, and called for ICE to be abolished.
- Origin
- Iran
- Pathway
- U.S.-born (2nd gen)
- Citizenship
- U.S.-born citizen
- Religion
- Unaffiliated
- Caucus
- Progressive Caucus
- First elected
- 2024
Key Findings
Yassamin Ansari was born in Seattle in 1992 and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona, the daughter of Iranian immigrants who fled the country during the 1979 revolution. She is the first Iranian-American Democrat elected to Congress and the youngest woman in the 119th Congress.
She represents Arizona's 3rd district in central and south Phoenix, which was about 26% foreign-born as of 2024. Before Congress she served on the Phoenix City Council and was the city's vice mayor.
She is a member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus and was elected by her peers as president of the Democratic freshman class. Her DW-NOMINATE first-dimension score is a preliminary −0.433.
She cosponsored the American Dream and Promise Act, which would create a path to citizenship for Dreamers, and in 2026 she called publicly for the abolition of ICE.
Yassamin Ansari reached Congress in 2025 at the age of 32, the youngest woman in the House. Within her first year she had joined the Progressive Caucus, been elected president of her freshman class, and staked out a position that few members will say aloud. She wants Immigration and Customs Enforcement abolished.
From revolution to Scottsdale
Ansari was born in Seattle in 1992 and raised in Scottsdale.[1] Her parents had fled Iran during the 1979 revolution. She describes her father, an immigrant, as "still the most patriotic American I know."[1] She grew up as the daughter of that immigration, and she has built her politics around it.
She went to Stanford, then earned a graduate degree at the University of Cambridge in England.[4] She worked on climate policy at the United Nations before returning to Arizona.[4] In 2021 she won a seat on the Phoenix City Council, the first Iranian-American elected to public office in the state, and became vice mayor in 2023.[4]
City hall to Congress
When Ruben Gallego left the 3rd district to run for the Senate, Ansari ran for the open seat.[4] She won the Democratic primary only after a recount, then took the general election in a safely Democratic district.[4] She became the first Iranian-American Democrat in Congress.[2]
The district covers central and south Phoenix and was about 26% foreign-born as of 2024.[3] Ansari's House biography calls her the youngest woman in the 119th Congress.[2]
The freshman class president
Ansari joined the Congressional Progressive Caucus, one of its new members in the 119th Congress.[5] Her fellow Democratic freshmen elected her president of their class, the liaison between new members and party leadership.[5] Her DW-NOMINATE first-dimension score is a preliminary −0.433, on the left of the House.[6]
Her committee work runs to natural resources and oversight. Her public identity runs to immigration.
"Abolish ICE"
Ansari made immigration enforcement her signature from the start. She cosponsored the American Dream and Promise Act, which would open a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants brought to the country as children.[7] She led a letter demanding the president reverse a threatened travel ban, which she called "cruel, racist, and un-American."[1] She wrote that "immigrants are an integral part of our culture, our economy, and our shared future."[1]
In her first State of the District address, in May 2026, she went further than most of her caucus. "It is absolutely clear that we must do everything in our power to stop and abolish ICE as quickly as possible," she said.[8] She described ICE detention facilities as "concentration camps run by private prison companies designed to profit off of human suffering."[8]
Abolishing a federal enforcement agency is not a fringe rhetorical flourish for Ansari. It is a stated goal. The Nation of Settlers argues the opposite case: that the failure to enforce immigration law, not the enforcement of it, is what produced the crisis. Ansari represents the position that the enforcement itself is illegitimate.
Abolition as a stated goal
Ansari is the immigration debate compressed into one biography. The daughter of immigrants who fled Iran, raised in Scottsdale, elected at 32 to represent a Phoenix district that mass immigration reshaped, and now the freshman-class president of her party's left wing. Her father's patriotism is real, and she cites it. Her policy is expansion and abolition: a path to citizenship for Dreamers, and the end of the agency that enforces the border. Central and south Phoenix, 26% foreign-born, sent to Congress a member who says out loud what most of her caucus will not, that ICE should be dismantled, and she is only beginning.
Sources
- Yassamin Ansari, "My Family Immigrated From Iran. Another Muslim Ban Would Hurt America" (Newsweek op-ed) - parents fled Iran during the 1979 revolution; "still the most patriotic American I know"; travel ban "cruel, racist, and un-American"; "immigrants are an integral part of our culture, our economy, and our shared future"
- Office of Rep. Yassamin Ansari, biography - first Iranian-American Democrat elected to Congress; youngest woman in the 119th Congress
- Congressional Research Service, Report R48940, Current Foreign-Born Population by State and Congressional District (ACS 2024 1-Year) - Arizona's 3rd district about 26% foreign-born
- Yassamin Ansari, biography - born in Seattle in 1992; raised in Scottsdale; Stanford and University of Cambridge; United Nations climate work; Phoenix City Council 2021 and vice mayor 2023; succeeded Ruben Gallego after a primary recount
- Washington Examiner, "Capitol's new crop: Yassamin Ansari" - Congressional Progressive Caucus member; elected president of the Democratic freshman class
- DW-NOMINATE first-dimension scores, 119th Congress, voteview.com - Yassamin Ansari, preliminary −0.433 (freshman score, subject to revision)
- Office of Rep. Yassamin Ansari, "Ansari cosponsors the American Dream and Promise Act" - cosponsored legislation creating a path to citizenship for Dreamers
- AZ Free News, "Rep. Ansari demands ICE be abolished in first State of the District address" - "we must do everything in our power to stop and abolish ICE as quickly as possible"; described ICE detention as "concentration camps run by private prison companies"