Democrats are ready to fight Trump on immigration. But how much can they achieve?

Detailed summary

Nov 11 - Democratic lawmakers are gearing up to fight President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown when in control of Congress next year, targeting ICE tactics and expanding…

Nov 11 - Democratic lawmakers are gearing up to fight President Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown when in control of Congress next year, targeting ICE tactics and expanding paths to legal status despite limits on how much they can achieve.

Democrats handily won control of both chambers of Congress last week, fueled in part by voters’ dissatisfaction with Trump’s aggressive arrest and deportation campaign. But lawmakers from both parties expect Stephen Miller, the architect of that campaign and Trump's new chief of staff, to go on driving immigration policy.

House and Senate staffers told Reuters they expect the president to veto any legislation that would curb immigration enforcement or expand pathways to legal residency and citizenship.

Trump’s immigration crackdown has become a political vulnerability, with his approval on the issue falling to 38% from 50% at the start of his presidency, based on Reuters/Ipsos polling, and Latino voters swinging sharply back to Democrats in the midterms after tilting Republican in 2024.

In a Friday interview with CBS’ “60 Minutes,” Trump acknowledged his deportation strategy may have been "too tough." Asked about that by reporters on Monday, Trump responded: "My policy has not changed."

Democrats will have more latitude on oversight. They have already drawn up a list of investigative targets at the Department of Homeland Security, the parent agency of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to staffers, including detention center conditions, fatal use of force by federal agents and the 2025 deportation of Venezuelans to a Salvadoran megaprison.

“We will investigate the administration weaponizing DHS against Americans (and) its out of control immigration policies,” US Representative Bennie Thompson, a Mississippi Democrat and the soon-to-be chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, told Reuters in a statement.

The party also plans to push for greater transparency into how DHS is spending the more than $100 billion…

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