How Democrats Can Start the Next Era of Immigration Reform Now - Time Magazine

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. Over the last two years, Trump quieted the border but the backlash against his mass deportation campaign overshadowed that achievement, suggesting voters want a secure border without seeing the same aggressive enforcement tactics in their communities.

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 affirmative vision. Democrats have to get organized and do both. Any Democratic plan needs to address the border. And the key to doing so lies in the hands of locally elected Democrats. Rather than waiting for the next Democratic president to do better on the issue, the four newly elected Democratic governors along the southern border have an opportunity to rebuild trust now. 

For decades, Washington has made border policy with too little input from the Americans forced to live with its consequences. I grew up in one of these communities in southern New Mexico. Lawmakers have ignored Border Patrol’s violent tactics and racial profiling against Latino border residents, failed to provide resources to help communities manage migration emergencies, and neglected Americans who live in colonias, underserved settlements that lack the basic necessities most Americans take for granted, from clean drinking water to functioning sewage systems.

From my time working in Washington, I’ve watched policymakers with little understanding of the border region or its economy make decisions that leave residents paying the price through greater instability, higher costs, and disruptions to their daily lives.

Now, with a fronteriza elected governor of Texas and Democratic leadership across all four southern border states, border communities have an opportunity to shape the policies that directly affect their lives. The four governors should develop a border security compact that sets shared priorities for state-level border operations, economic development, asylum reform, and preparations for future migration emergencies, and then use that compact to press Congress and the administration for action.

This is one area where there may be welcome collaboration from the Trump Administration. Working with federal officials and Mexico, the governors can make clear that Democrats will not tolerate chaos at the border while advancing a new system in which seeking humanitarian protection no longer requires relying on human smugglers to cross illegally into the United States. 

The governors must also prepare for the possibility of another migration surge after Trump leaves office, regardless of who succeeds him, Democrat or Republican. Four years of restrictive immigration policies and cruel enforcement could create pent-up demand for migration, and misinformation about whether the border will reopen will abound. Border states should begin preparing now rather than waiting for another crisis.

As Democrats move to constrain ICE and rebuild trust on the border, they must also respond to the voters who placed their “I Voted” stickers on the memorials of Renee Nicole Good, Alex Pretti, and Lorenzo Salgado Araujo. Those tributes were reminders that millions of American citizens live alongside neighbors, coworkers, and loved ones who remain vulnerable to deportation because Congress has failed to give them a path to legal status.

An "I Voted" sticker at the memorial for Alex Pretti on Nov. 3, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Bridget Bennett—MinnPost/CatchLight via Getty Images

Democrats should start strong in January and pass the American Dream and Promise Act, a House bill that creates a pathway to permanent residence and citizenship not only for Dreamers, but also for the hundreds of thousands of Temporary Protected Status holders who have lived and worked in the United States for years. That should be the floor of their ambitions on legalization, not the ceiling. 

Doing so may require reaching across the aisle, either to build a veto-proof majority or to collaborate with Trump. Democrats should argue that legalizing undocumented immigrants who have had no chance to access legal status because of a civil immigration violation can be a solution to problems Americans experience every day, from the shortage of workers building new homes to the rising cost of child care. A functioning immigration system should bring in the workers communities need while providing a way for undocumented immigrants already doing those jobs to obtain legal status. These new legal pathways should reflect the needs of the economy, including visas for care workers and construction workers.

Representative Gabe Vasquez of New Mexico has already demonstrated what this approach can look like. Months before winning reelection in a competitive border district, he introduced the Careworker Visa Act at a time when many Democrats were reluctant to discuss immigration. His bill creates new visas for careworkers while allowing eligible undocumented workers already in the U.S. to obtain legal status. This, I believe, is the future of immigration reform.

Rather than simply investigating the deportation of veterans and military families, Democrats should advance legislation giving legal status to the families of service members and challenge Republicans to oppose it. They should do the same for construction workers needed to build new housing. And they should introduce a bill allowing states to request more visas for industries facing labor shortages and shrinking populations, building on legislation introduced by Senators John Curtis and Mark Kelly. Advance existing bills that help keep rural hospitals open by bringing in the doctors and nurses their communities need. Put each proposal before Congress, ask Republicans to sign on, and give Trump the opportunity to sign it. If he refuses, show Americans what they lose by his inaction.  

Democrats don’t need to spend years writing a new comprehensive bill promising to fix the entire immigration system at once. Members across the caucus can introduce legislation tailored to the needs of their states and districts, and spend the next two years showing Americans what kind of immigration system they want to build and how it would improve their lives.

Americans deserve something neither party has delivered in decades: a fair and functioning immigration system with a secure border, an ICE focused on genuine threats to public safety and national security, and a path to permanent residency for millions of undocumented immigrants already here who have committed no serious crimes. Progress on immigration shouldn’t have to wait for a bill that solves everything at once. 

If Trump is serious about reconsidering his policies, Democrats should give him legislation to sign. If he refuses, they should spend the next two years showing Americans what a better immigration system could deliver.