After Democrats' sweeping midterm victories this week, winning candidates say that once sworn in, they will move to rein in President Donald Trump's mass deportation machine — and some are calling for a new Democratic vision for immigration reform while both houses of Congress are under Democratic control.
Democrats appear ready to use congressional oversight to investigate Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Department of Homeland Security, a strategy likely to resonate with voters angered by how enforcement operations were carried out in places like Minneapolis and by ICE arrests of longtime immigrants integrated into American communities.
Rep. Robert Garcia, a Los Angeles-area Democrat who will take over the House Oversight Committee, warned the administration to "lawyer up," saying investigating alleged abuses at the Department of Homeland Security was one of his priorities. Mississippi Rep. Bennie Thompson, the ranking Democrat on the House Homeland Security Committee, said the next Congress will "address the Trump administration's assault on the rule of law and hold those responsible accountable."
The investigations could examine issues such as the department's purchases of massive warehouses to hold arrested immigrants, whether ICE cut corners when hiring thousands of new deportation officers, and deaths in ICE detention facilities. Garcia and Sen. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut previously held shadow hearings featuring family members of people killed during enforcement operations, a whistleblower on ICE training problems and American citizens caught up in operations. No Republicans attended and Democrats could not subpoena witnesses. Now they can.
At least one of the party's new senators is ready for the reform discussion. During an interview with Fox News after the election, Sen.-elect James Talarico of Texas discussed the need to pass comprehensive immigration reform, including a pathway to citizenship for immigrants living and working illegally in the country for years. In the House, Rep. Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico pointed to the Democratic gains made with Latino voters and said Democrats should address immigration through a lens of affordability — for example, by creating a new visa class for workers who provide care for children or the elderly.
Nationally, about 6 in 10 voters said the Trump administration's actions on immigration enforcement had "gone too far," according to the AP Voter Poll, a survey of more than 100,000 midterm voters. A similar share disapproved of how ICE was doing its job, while about 6 in 10 said immigrants to the U.S. today do more to "help the country."
But there are clear limits to what Democrats can achieve. Trump remains in office for another two years and can veto Democratic legislation, and Republicans have frontloaded billions of dollars for enforcement — $150 billion in the summer of 2025 to expand detention capacity, finish the border wall and hire thousands of deportation officers, plus routine funding for ICE and Border Patrol frontloaded for the next three years. Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin vowed on social media, "Deportations will continue." And days after the election, Trump elevated Stephen Miller, the key architect of his hard-line immigration agenda, to White House chief of staff. California Sen. Alex Padilla said Trump was choosing to double down — "So will we."
