Op-ed | The midterm elections were a rebuke of Trump and ICE’s tactics

Democrats swept both chambers of Congress last week. President Trump bet that his deportation agenda would win the day for him and his party; he lost that bet resoundingly. Americans at the ballot box made clear that their concerns focused on affordability, inflation and the Trump administration’s tactics on immigration. 

The midterm election results are a referendum on the Trump Administration and its policies. The same voters who gave Republicans a narrow edge on immigration issues rejected how this administration has carried out its agenda. Exit polls found that 57% of voters said Trump’s enforcement has gone too far, and 59% disapprove of ICE. Voters aren’t asking Democrats to abandon immigration. They’re asking them to bring order and decency back to a system that has lost both.

Democrats now have the tools to do it. Starting in January, they should use three.

The first is oversight. ICE has operated with too little transparency and too few consequences. A Democratic House now has subpoena power. It should investigate enforcement practices, detention conditions, deaths in custody, and how the agency spends its money.

Accountability can’t stop at agency leadership. When agents or contractors violate people’s rights, Congress must make clear there will be consequences. And hearings aren’t the goal. They should produce laws that protect families and make clear no agency is above the law.

The second is the power of the purse. Across two party-line budget bills, Republicans have committed more than $200 billion to immigration enforcement and border operations, including $45 billion for detention alone. The first of those bills also cut SNAP and Medicaid.