How Democrats Can Start the Next Era of Immigration Reform Now

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Voters want a secure border without seeing the same aggressive enforcement tactics in their communities, writes Andrea Flores.

The 2026 midterm election results rebuked President Donald Trump’s failures on the economy and, in several competitive races, his immigration agenda. Latino voters who backed him in 2024 swung back to Democrats, helping deliver the politically unthinkable. Texas elected its first Democratic senator since 1988 and its first Latina governor, while Democrats won governorships in all four southern border states and every southern border congressional district.

The party has been given a chance to persuade voters that it can offer a better alternative to Republicans on immigration. If Democrats blow it, they may not get another one in 2028.

Trump is certainly not going to make it easy. He responded to his midterm losses by elevating Stephen Miller, the architect of mass deportations, to White House chief of staff. Yet in an interview with Ross Douthat on 60 Minutes recorded before Miller’s appointment, Trump suggested he was open to an immigration deal with Democrats. He walked those comments back a day later, saying there won’t be amnesty for undocumented immigrants and that his policy hasn’t changed.

Rather than wait for the White House, Democrats should act now. They can use their oversight power to slow down mass deportations and pass immigration legislation to put on his desk.

On the defensive front, Congress is limited in what it can do to rein in mass deportations. The multi-year funding Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) received in the last two years, more than $113 billion, cannot be taken away without new legislation and, absent a veto-proof majority, Trump’s signature. That being said, if they can collect a veto-proof majority, Congress should try to limit how that funding is used by passing new legislation. With the money and infrastructure already in place, oversight of ICE and the Border Patrol will be essential to exposing abuses, holding the administration accountable, and slowing them down.

But reining in ICE doesn’t eliminate the need for an…

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