WASHINGTON, DC- Remember way back at the beginning of November when Democrats claimed their number one priority was the so-called “affordability crisis” in the U.S.? Yeah, good times.
Now, with the election behind them and two years for Americans to forget their failed promises, Democrats are preparing to target the Trump administration’s successful immigration crackdown and will attempt to target ICE tactics while once again trying to give illegal aliens a pathway to citizenship, Reuters reports. Those efforts may prove fruitless since Congress has little authority over how immigration laws are enforced, other than through appropriations.
President Trump sent a message to Democrats last week, however, when he appointed his longtime adviser and immigration hawk, Stephen Miller, as his chief of staff.
While Reuters claimed that voter dissatisfaction with the president’s immigration policy “fueled in part” Democrats regaining control of both houses of Congress, an overwhelming majority of Americans favored interior immigration enforcement at 72%, according to Searchlight Institute.
A majority of Americans did, however, feel that Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s (ICE) tactics may have been too aggressive. Yet, in an October 29, 2026 Gallup poll, Only 40% of Americans believed immigration was an important issue, ranking 6th out of 11 issues.
With Miller’s appointment as chief of staff, both Republicans and Democrats believe he will continue to drive an aggressive immigration policy.
Democrats will also have to contend with President Trump’s veto pen, as he has vowed to veto any efforts by liberals to reign in ICE or to expand a pathway to citizenship for illegal aliens. The president’s approval on immigration has fallen since the start of his presidency, driven in no small part by overwhelming negative media coverage of those efforts by the usual suspects, the legacy media such as CBS, NBC, ABC, and CNN, as well as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the AP and others.
Last week, President Trump sat down for an interview on CBS News’ “60 Minutes,” the president admitted his immigration policies may have been viewed as “too tough,” however when asked to clarify those remarks by reporters on Monday, the president responded, “My policy has not changed.”
Still, with Democrats overseeing House and Senate committees starting January 3, 2027, they will have the ability to forget about the “affordability issue” and pivot to their real goal...target Trump administration officials.
Democrats have already signaled that they will be looking to conduct investigations on personnel assigned to the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Far-left Democrats have promised to probe detention center conditions, lethal use of force by federal agents, and the 2025 deportation of Venezuelan gang members to a Salvadoran prison.
“We will investigate the administration weaponizing DHS against Americans (and) its out of control immigration policies,” Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS) and soon to be chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, told Reuters in a statement. Recall that Thompson oversaw the January 6 committee’s inquisition that attempted to pin the January 6, 2021 US Capitol siege on President Trump.
Democrats are also expected to push for transparency on how DHS is spending over $100 million allocated by Congress since last year, said one staffer who refused to give their name.
Meanwhile, more reasonable Democrats such as Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) signaled a more conciliatory tone. Cuellar said he has had conversations with administration offficials about focusing deportation efforts on criminals, promising that they were “not going to be extreme” about efforts to rein in ICE.
When asked for comment, White House spokesperson Taylor Rogers told Reuters in a statement: “The Democrats are colossally misreading the electorate if they think the American people want an extremist, anti-American immigration agenda.”
Meanwhile, the Department of Homeland Security, in a statement, pushed back on claims the agency had been weaponized against Americans, calling those claims “absurd and false.”
Sarah Pierce, social policy director at Third Way, a center-left think tank, said Democrats were operating in a “whole new world when it comes to their immigration agenda.”
“They’ve clearly broken from the policy that we saw under the Biden administration, but they have yet to offer a proactive vision for what immigration should look like.”
Between 2021 and 2025, the administration of Joe Biden rolled out the welcome mat for illegals worldwide, with some estimates saying that over 15 million illegal aliens were allowed into the country virtually unabated, including violent offenders such as Tren de Aragua gang members.
After claiming they received a “mandate” in the November 3 election, despite flipping fewer seats than Republicans did in Clinton’s first mid-term or Obama did in his first mid-term, Democrats are ready to unleash the radical loons in their party.
Senator-elect Peggy Flanagan (D-MN), who was lieutenant governor in the state while fraud was running rampant throughout the state, bellowed, “We will rip ICE apart” during her post-election event in Minnesota.
Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) who will be in the majority on the House Judiciary Committee’s Immigration subcommittee, said she will force “every single one of these corrupt people that kidnapped and detained and deported and killed people in the streets” to testify before Congress.
Other more level-headed Democrats, such as Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) proposed better training and equipment for ICE agents.
“Agents need real training and body cameras,” he said. “They need to wear clear identification unless they are on an undercover operation. They must coordinate with state and local law enforcement.” Last March, Gottheimer sponsored the ICE Standards Act, which would accomplish those goals.
Republicans pushed back on Gottheimer’s claim, stating they have already provided funds to ICE to purchase body cameras, while resisting Democratic efforts to tie the hands of the agency.
Democrats have made no secret about plans to offer pathways to citizenship for illegal aliens, efforts which would likely meet with a “VETO” written in black Sharpie by President Trump.
Jose Parra, a former US Senate aide claims that “voters moved the goal posts” with November 3rd's election results and said that might open the way for some stall bills to advance.
One, the “Dignity Act,” would create a pathway to legal residence for workers while tightening border security and reforming visa programs. While that bill is often painted as “bipartisan,” only 20 Republicans signed on as cosponsors.
Democrats will also push the Dream and Promise Act with would give a pathway to citizenship to so-called “Dreamers,” illegal aliens who arrived in the US as children.
All of these will likely be opposed by President Trump, especially with Stephen Miller no serving as chief of staff. Securing the borders is an Article 2 power given to the president. As such, the “Take Care” clause vests in the president powers to ensure that federal laws, including immigration and border enforcement statutes passed by Congress, are enforced.
Article II, Section 2 vests in the president the power of commander-in-chief of the U.S. Armed Forces, including the ability to direct military and security personnel in national defense and border support operations.
Those powers were not lost on Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former senior ICE official, who also acknowledged that Congress has given much of its authority over immigration to the president.
‘Congress has ceded so much of its authority and so much of its power to the executive,” she said. ”There are real limitations on how much Congress can do.”
Democrats still could use the power of the purse and Senate confirmation votes as leverage against the president. They could also tie ICE cuts to popular programs such as healthcare and school lunch programs, popular with the voters, which would make a veto politically dangerous to the president and Republicans.
Despite all the bluster from Democrats, some acknowledge they may have to cut deals with President Trump to achieve some of their goals.
Sen. Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) said Democrats will have to cut deals with the president and said members of his caucus are discussing how to move forward with a “Dreamers” bill by the end of 2026.
“Republicans have been saying we will have immigration reform as soon as we have a safe, secure border,” Gallego said. “We have that right now.”
Comments