Washington (Parliament Politics Magazine) – US President Donald Trump will expand the immigration crackdown in 2026, increasing raids and agency funding amid political opposition.
As reported by Ted Hesson, Kristina Cooke, and Jeff Mason of Reuters, President Trump plans a more aggressive 2026 immigration crackdown, including billions in new funding and expanded workplace raids, even as political opposition grows ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
How Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown sparked political backlash in US cities?
The Trump administration has increased the presence of immigration officers in major US cities, where their neighborhood sweeps sometimes led to clashes with residents.
Federal authorities conducted several high-profile business raids this year but largely avoided targeting farms, factories, and other key employers known to hire undocumented workers.
Under a July spending package approved by the Republican-controlled Congress, ICE and Border Patrol will receive an additional $170 billion through September 2029, a significant increase from their current annual budgets of about $19 billion.
Officials said the administration plans to hire thousands of additional agents, establish more detention facilities, arrest undocumented immigrants in local jails, and work with private firms to track those without legal status.
Plans to expand deportations continue amid increasing political criticism ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
Last week, Miami elected its first Democratic mayor in nearly three decades, a city heavily affected by President Trump’s immigration policies. Local elections and polls indicate growing concern among voters over aggressive immigration measures.
Mike Madrid, a Republican political strategist, said,
“People are beginning to see this not as an immigration question anymore as much as it is a violation of rights, a violation of due process and militarizing neighborhoods extraconstitutionally. There is no question that is a problem for the president and Republicans.”
President Trump’s approval rating on immigration fell from 50% in March to 41% by mid-December after crackdowns in major cities. The decline coincides with growing public concern over masked federal agents using aggressive tactics, including tear gas in neighborhoods and detaining US citizens.
The Trump administration has also ended temporary legal protections for hundreds of thousands of Haitian, Venezuelan, and Afghan immigrants, increasing the number of people at risk of deportation.
The president has pledged to remove 1 million immigrants annually, a target he is unlikely to meet. Since taking office in January, about 622,000 immigrants have been deported.
Tom Homan, the White House border czar, said President Trump has carried out a major deportation initiative, targeting criminals and addressing illegal immigration.
He confirmed that arrests will increase as ICE hires more officers and expands detention capacity with the recently approved funding.
Mr Homan added,
“I think you’re going to see the numbers explode greatly next year.”
Sarah Pierce, director of social policy at the center-left group Third Way, said American businesses have largely refrained from opposing President Trump’s immigration policies over the past year.
She added that a focus on employers could change that and said it will be
“interesting to see whether businesses finally stand up to this administration.”
Jessica Vaughan, policy director for the Center for Immigration Studies, said,
“Eventually you’re going to have to go after these employers. When that starts happening the employers will start cleaning up their acts on their own.”
After taking office, President Trump pledged historic deportations, citing high illegal immigration under former President Joe Biden. His administration sent federal agents to US cities, sparking protests and lawsuits over racial profiling and aggressive tactics.
How many undocumented immigrants are in the US?
In 2023, the Pew Research Center estimated there were 14 million unauthorized immigrants in the US, which represents about 4% of the total US population.
US Customs and Border Protection reported that in May 2025, zero individuals were released from Border Patrol custody into the interior of the US, a drop from over 62,000 in May 2024.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, over 2 million people have “left the United States” since early 2025, including more than 527,000 formal deportations and an estimated 1.6 million who are said to have “voluntarily self-deported.”
Nearly 41% of the roughly 54,000 people arrested and detained by ICE by late November had no criminal record beyond suspected immigration violations. In early January, before President Trump took office, only 6% of those arrested faced no other charges or convictions.
