Washington: US President Donald Trump is gearing up for a more aggressive crackdown on immigration in 2026 with billions in new funding, including raids on more workplaces – even as backlash grows ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
Trump has already herded immigration agents into major American cities, where they swept through neighborhoods and clashed with residents. While federal agents have conducted several high-profile business raids this year, they have largely avoided raids on farms, factories and other businesses that are economically important but are known to employ undocumented immigrants.
ICE and the Border Patrol will receive $170 billion in additional funding through September 2029 — a huge increase in funding over their current annual budgets of about $19 billion after the Republican-controlled Congress passed a massive spending package in July.
Administration officials say they plan to hire thousands more agents, open new detention centers, pick up more immigrants in local jails and work with outside companies to track down people without legal status.
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The expanded deportation plans come despite growing signs of political backlash ahead of next year’s mid-term elections.
Miami, one of the cities hardest hit by Trump’s crackdown because of its large immigrant population, last week elected its first Democratic mayor in nearly three decades, in what the mayor-elect said was in part a response to the president. Other local elections and opinion polls indicate growing concern among voters who fear aggressive immigration tactics.
“People are starting to see this not as an issue of immigration, but more of a violation of rights, a violation of due process and an unconstitutional militarization of neighborhoods,” said Mike Madrid, a moderate Republican political strategist. “There’s no doubt that would be a problem for the president and the Republicans.”
Trump’s overall approval rating on immigration policy fell from 50% in March, before he launched crackdowns in several major US cities, to 41% in mid-December, his strongest issue.
Growing public concern has focused on undercover federal agents using aggressive tactics such as deploying tear gas in residential neighborhoods and detaining US citizens.
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“Numbers Explode”
In addition to expanding enforcement, Trump stripped hundreds of thousands of Haitian, Venezuelan and Afghan immigrants of temporary legal status, widening the pool of people who could be deported as the president vowed to remove 1 million immigrants each year — a goal he will almost certainly miss this year. About 622,000 immigrants have been deported since Trump took office in January.
White House border czar Tom Homan told Reuters that Trump had made good on his promise of a historic deportation operation and removal of criminals while stopping illegal immigration across the US-Mexico border. Homan said the number of arrests will spike as ICE hires more officers and expands detention capacity with new funding.
“I think you’re going to see an explosion of numbers next year,” Homan said.
Homan said the plans “absolutely” include more workplace enforcement.
Sarah Pierce, director of social policy at the center-left group Third Way, said American businesses have been reluctant to push back on Trump’s immigration crackdown in the past year, but if the focus turns to employers, they may be encouraged to speak out.
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Pierce said it will be interesting to see “whether or not businesses finally stand up to this administration.”
Trump, a Republican, recaptured the White House, promising a record number of deportations, saying it was needed after years of high levels of illegal immigration under his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden. He launched a campaign that sent federal agents into American cities to hunt down possible immigration offenders, sparking protests and lawsuits over racial profiling and violent tactics.
Some businesses close to avoid raids or due to lack of customers. Arrest-prone parents kept their children home from school or let neighbors walk them. Some American citizens began to carry passports.
Despite the focus on criminals in its public statements, government data shows that the Trump administration is arresting more people who have not been charged with any crimes other than their alleged immigration violations than previous administrations.
About 41% of the roughly 54,000 people arrested by ICE and detained in late November had no criminal record other than suspected immigration violations, agency data show. In the first weeks of January, before Trump took office, just 6% of those arrested and detained by ICE did not face other felony charges or prior convictions.
The Trump administration has also targeted legal immigrants. Agents arrested spouses of US citizens at green card interviews, pulled people from certain countries out of their naturalization ceremonies moments before they were due to become citizens, and canceled thousands of student visas.
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Plans to target employers
The administration’s planned focus on jobs in the coming year could lead to many more arrests and affect the U.S. economy and Republican business owners.
Replacing immigrants arrested in workplace raids could lead to higher labor costs, undermining Trump’s fight against inflation, which analysts expect will be a major issue in the closely watched November election and determine control of Congress.
Administration officials earlier this year exempted such businesses from enforcement at Trump’s behest, then quickly reversed it, Reuters reported at the time.
Some immigration hardliners have called for more enforcement in the workplace.
“Ultimately, you’re going to have to go after those employers,” said Jessica Vaughan, policy director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which supports lower levels of immigration. “Once that starts happening, employers start cleaning up their act themselves.”
Disclaimer: This story was published from the agency’s news feed without editing the text.
