The Future Called—It Doesn’t Need Your 2024 Immigration Politics

Without a Reset, Democrats Will Keep Losing on Immigration

Nine months into Trump’s second term, the U.S. immigration system has been dramatically reshaped. The administration has revoked the legal status of 928,000 immigrants, stripping them of deportation protections and work authorization in a push to detain and deport them — potentially adding hundreds of thousands to the undocumented population. The Department of Homeland Security tried to deport over 300 children to Guatemala in the middle of the night, before a federal judge stopped them. On Friday night, he attempted to ban immigrants coming to the United States on H-1B visas, testing a new legal immigration restriction.

He is also using his broad immigration powers to go after U.S. citizens. His administration is pursuing federal charges against a sitting Member of Congress for conducting oversight of an immigration detention facility. Earlier this month, he won a temporary Supreme Court victory that lifted a federal court’s restraining order barring ICE from using factors like race, ethnicity, location, or type of work, like landscaping, to justify immigration stops in Los Angeles. Now, agents are allowed to stop people simply for appearing Latino, speaking Spanish, or even speaking English with an accent.

While Trump tests the Constitution, tears families apart, and sows fear and confusion, Democrats remain preoccupied with past immigration fights. If they fail to defend us from the policies the country is experiencing right now—by holding Trump accountable and putting forward a clear, modern vision for immigration—they will cede the political ground that could decide the 2026 and 2028 elections. Voters have repeatedly shown us that they do not reward timidity. Trump is losing support on immigration. To lead, Democrats must define the future of immigration before Trump defines it for them.

How Democrats Misread the Moment

Immigration, alongside inflation, was President Biden’s biggest vulnerability. When Kamala Harris stepped into the presidential race in July, she struggled to win back public support on either issue. After the election, prominent party officials claimed Biden and Harris had been pulled too far left by progressive immigration groups. But Harris didn’t lose because Biden had been too liberal on immigration– she lost because his administration ignored public concern over the border crisis, failed to curb unauthorized border crossings, and only turned to Congress after the crisis spilled into U.S. cities.

Rather than confront these policy failures, Democratic pundits called for moderation without defining what that meant in the face of Trump’s promised mass deportations. The party misread polls showing majority support for mass deportations as proof that Americans wanted millions expelled, without reckoning with what that would actually mean: new detention centers across the country, thousands of ICE officers in local communities, and the arrests of longtime residents with no criminal record. That reading of the public mood ended up pushing Democrats closer to Trump’s agenda.

In January, Democrats crossed party lines to vote for the Laken Riley Act, a rare bipartisan bill that mandates detention for immigrants merely accused of crimes like shoplifting or assault. It was a classic Republican messaging bill named after Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student who was killed by a migrant from Venezuela. Although it was marketed as a “border security” measure, the bill had little to do with border policy. It was so poorly written that Democratic cosponsors of the bill were uncertain whether it applied narrowly or to all immigrants, including Dreamers.

By supporting it, Democrats helped chip away at due process for immigrants even before Trump returned to office. Worse, they handed Republicans a new weapon against a future Democratic administration: a private right of action allowing states to sue the federal government if they believed enforcement was too weak. Democrats tried to frame their support as proof they were serious about border security, but in reality, it was a political maneuver to distance themselves from Biden’s failures—without offering a genuine fix or thinking through the long-term consequences.

Cracking Trump’s Popularity on Immigration

Democrats weren’t always so hesitant to take on Trump over immigration—or to articulate their own vision. During his first term, they showed up at protests, grilled his appointees in hearings, and reminded the country that targeting immigrants went against core American values. Today, aside from a few standout voices, most stay silent—offering little more than social media posts, letters, or statements instead of bold leadership against the President’s extreme agenda.

Take the wrongful deportation of Kilmar Ábrego García, who was among the 238 Venezuelan men sent to a terrorism confinement center in El Salvador. The Justice Department later admitted his deportation was a mistake, yet the administration insisted it had no power to reverse it. Rather than take responsibility, Trump and his team smeared him as a gang member and lied about his past. When public outrage grew, few Democrats spoke up. They remained silent even as more disturbing details about the El Salvador deal surfaced, like the stories of other innocent men who were imprisoned. It fell to other political actors to sound the alarm about these abuses. For Trump, Democrats’ silence wasn’t just a win—it signaled that they weren’t going to put up a fight on immigration.

Fortunately, not all Democrats have been unwilling to stand up to Trump’s unconstitutional, extralegal, and extrajudicial immigration tactics. When Senator Chris Van Hollen learned that his constituent, Mr. Ábrego García, had been wrongfully deported, he flew to El Salvador. He demanded meetings with officials and confirmed Kilmar was alive. His advocacy didn’t just shine a light on the case; it exposed how willing the administration was to make life-or-death mistakes, and then lie about them. Thanks to his work—and the support of the Maryland delegation— not only did Kilmar come home, but we learned critical details about the financial deal Trump made with El Salvador. Kilmar remains unjustly detained in an immigration facility in Virginia, but the Maryland delegation continues to fight for him.

Senator Van Hollen was the one who finally cracked Trump’s popularity on immigration, and his bravery and leadership should really be an example for other Democrats. Once Americans saw the reality of mass deportations, they recoiled. Yet in Washington, Van Hollen was criticized. Prominent pundits argued that traveling to El Salvador was bad politics and that by fighting back on immigration, Democrats were merely raising the salience of what they considered to be a losing political issue. But Senator Van Hollen stood firm in the face of criticism. He helped Americans understand that fighting for Kilmar isn’t about one man: “It’s about protecting the constitutional rights of everybody who resides in the United States.”

Fighting Back Before it’s Too Late

Yes, Democrats should campaign hard in 2026 on cost-of-living and healthcare. But real leadership means taking on more than one priority at a time—and silence on immigration is not an option. If Democrats won’t defend the Constitutional rights and dignity of everyone in this country, then what are they really fighting for?

We cannot remain paralyzed. Democrats have already paid a price for ignoring public opinion on immigration. If they don’t offer voters a clear, thoughtful, and principled alternative to Trump’s agenda, they risk losing not just elections, but America’s future as a prosperous multiracial democracy.