Immigration may have been a political liability for Democrats in 2024. But two years later, it’s shaping up to be a top issue they’re relying on to galvanize support and mobilize their base.
Voters will be casting their ballots in the midterm elections in 10 months. In their campaigns, Democrats across the country are responding to the anger felt by many communities over the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement operations, after the fatal shootings this month in Minneapolis of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer and Alex Pretti by Customs and Border Protection agents.
“We’re living in a time where we have ICE kidnapping people and we’ve got moms getting shot in the face,” Brian Varela, a Democratic candidate running in New Jersey’s 7th Congressional District, told CBS News in an interview. “We don’t have time for just strategy and only pragmatism.”
That district, held by incumbent Republican Rep. Tom Kean Jr., could play a critical role in the balance of power in the House. Republicans currently hold a very slim five-seat majority, which means Democrats would take control of the House with a net gain of just three seats in November.
Varela will be endorsed Thursday by the progressive-leaning organization Latino Victory Fund, CBS News has learned. His campaign is betting the endorsement, and the national group’s financial and operational backing, can help propel the New Jersey entrepreneur to victory over his seven Democratic primary opponents this June and position him to flip the district.
“Brian understands the urgent issues facing New Jerseyans, as the son of a working-class immigrant family and successful business owner,” Katharine Pichardo, Latino Victory Fund president and CEO, said in a statement.
Varela tells CBS News he is “the most vocal ICE critic” in New Jersey, often joining protests trying to stop the opening of detention centers. “I was one of the very first candidates nationally to come out and ask for Kristi Noem’s impeachment,” he said of the homeland security secretary.
He’s pledging to hold ICE accountable, a promise increasingly echoed by Democrats on the campaign trail.
Varela is one of several Democrats featuring the Trump administration’s deportation operations in their campaigns, and their approaches range from calls for abolishing ICE to reforming it. Texas Rep. Jasmine Crockett, who is facing state Rep. James Talarico in the Senate Democratic primary, released a digital ad on Wednesday that says ICE agents are “turning us into Nazi Germany.” Talarico is also focusing on ICE and holding agents accountable.
“We need to prosecute agents who have abused their power,” Talarico said during a Senate debate on Saturday. “We have to haul these masked men before Congress so the world can see their faces,” he said of the ICE and CBP agents who often conduct deportation operations in masks to avoid being identified and doxxed.
“The majority of Americans didn’t vote for this,” Adam Bozzi, a Democratic consultant working on House races told CBS News. “This is far from it, what they’re seeing is horrifying. This is a moral and values based issue for many people and part of the reaction will be people voting for the opposition that wants to change this behavior and that is the starting point.”
On Capitol Hill, Democrats are opposing funding for DHS without ICE reforms, and a number of them are backing a resolution to impeach Noem. Some have called for abolishing ICE.
“Right now, Democrats have the power to defund and abolish ICE,” Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts said in a video posted on X. “We should do it.”
In Minneapolis, Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota said holding “law-breaking ICE agents” accountable is not enough and added “we must abolish ICE.”
“What’s been happening in Minneapolis has been chaotic and a tragedy, and no one wants to see human lives lost,” Vianca Rodriguez, a Republican strategist and former Trump administration official, told CBS News.
But she says Democrats bear part of the blame. “That chaos has been worsened by a lack of cooperation from state and local officials acting at the direction of Democrat Governor Tim Walz,” Rodriguez said, adding, “Democrats now trying to use this crisis for political gain and propaganda is deeply irresponsible and disgusting.”
She said Hispanics who backed President Trump in 2024 did so because they liked his plans for an “orderly immigration system where we are making sure that our communities are safe and that we are prioritizing removing and deporting those that have criminal records.”
In an interview with the New York Times, Republican Florida state Sen. Ileana Garcia, a co-founder of “Latinas for Trump,” warned that immigration will cost Republicans the elections in November if the Trump administration doesn’t reconsider its enforcement tactics.”I do think that he [Mr. Trump] will lose the midterms because of presidential aide Stephen Miller,” the White House deputy chief of staff and homeland security adviser who’s seen as one of the architects of the administration’s immigration enforcement operation.
In response to Garcia’s comments, Republican Rep. Maria Salazar of Florida told CBS News’ Major Garrett on “The Takeout” Wednesday, “I do believe that we have a national conversation pending” about immigration. “We are at a crossroads.”
Salazar has called for bipartisan immigration reform. “We need to change ICE directives – they are following the law. We need to change the laws (and) as Kristi Noem said, if we change the laws, then the law enforcement agencies will then follow what we wrote in Congress.”
In South Texas, Latin Grammy-winning Tejano star Bobby Pulido is running as a Democrat in the state’s newly redrawn 15th Congressional District, held by incumbent Republican Rep. Monica De La Cruz, and he’s pushing for bipartisan immigration reform.
“It feels like we went from a policy of letting them all in to kicking them all out, and I don’t think either one is a good thing,” Pulido told CBS News.
His district is also on the Democrats’ target list — it turned out for Mr. Trump in 2024, breaking with past trends, and reelected De La Cruz to Congress.
“We need comprehensive immigration reform,” Pulido said. “My district is 78% Hispanic and it doesn’t help anybody when you’re in a community living in fear.”
In a newly released Fox News poll, 59% of voters say ICE has been “too aggressive,” up 10 points since July. On the president’s overall performance on immigration, 55% of voters disapprove.
“It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it that’s also important. I’m all for border enforcement, that’s fine. I’m all for a secure border, but the way they’re doing it right now is angering a lot of people,” Pulido said.
“What you’re starting to see, even just the Republican reaction to everything that is happening with ICE is really a reflection of how people in the community are feeling,” New Jersey’s Varela told CBS News, adding that he’s witnessing a growing number of people in his state requesting to volunteer and attend community events that rally against immigration operations. “People are angry, people are frustrated and people are scared.”
“The radical ‘Abolish ICE’ crusade from far-left Democrats seemed like a relic of the past, but it’s the brand new litmus test for Democrats who are barely hanging on and begging on their knees to get approval from their socialist base,” NRCC spokesperson Mike Marinella wrote to CBS News in a statement. “Their full embrace of demonizing law enforcement proves how out of touch they are, and voters will punish them for it.”
