The Trump administration is unlikely to reduce its aggressive repression on illegal immigration following the results of midterm electionsseveral U.S. officials told CBS News, citing the rise in Stephen Miller, the immigration hawk as White House chief of staff.
Republicans suffered huge losses across the country on Election Day, including in some historic states. Red states like Texas. Exit polls are shown that immigration was one of the top issues, along with the economy, among Latinos in Texas, who shifted heavily toward Democrats. And 58% of voters nationally said the Trump administration’s crackdown on evictions has “gone too far.”
In January, Democratic lawmakers will take control of both houses of Congress and assume sweeping powers to investigate the administration’s immigration crackdown and its most controversial policies.
Yet officials at the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have not received instructions to reduce immigration controls since the election, the sources said, requesting anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.
In recent weeks, ICE officials have been instructed to try to make about 19,000 arrests per week, or about 2,700 per day, an increase from the previous goal of 2,000 daily arrests, agency sources told CBS News. This goal was set before the midterm elections.
U.S. officials have cited Miller’s nomination to the top White House post as a clear indication that the Trump administration is likely to continue ICE’s deportation campaign, as well as its more low-key but high-profile push to sharply restrict legal immigration.
Asked if the midterm elections would result in a rollback of immigration measures, one of the officials said, “I would count on the opposite” with Miller as chief of staff.
The sources also said the administration believes last week’s stunning election losses were largely due to concerns about the economy, affordability and the war with Iran — not immigration crackdowns.
“This administration will not slow down its efforts to arrest and deport illegal aliens who are terrorizing our communities. There has never been a stronger president on immigration enforcement than President Trump,” White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis told CBS News.
Bis cited the Trump administration’s efforts to increase security at the U.S.-Mexico border, where illegal crossings have plunged to historic lows after reaching record levels during the tenure of former President Joe Biden.
Miller has been seen as a loyal foot soldier in President Trump’s inner circle for a decade, dating back to his successful 2016 presidential campaign, when he promised to end Muslim immigration to the United States and significantly increase deportations of those in the United States illegally.
During this period, Miller emerged as the chief architect of Mr. Trump’s radical immigration policies. Miller was a top aide to Mr. Trump during his first administration, when authorities banned immigration and travel from majority-Muslim countries and separated thousands of migrant children from their parents in a “zero tolerance” crackdown that was abandoned after massive public outcry.
But Miller has dramatically expanded his power — and influence over federal immigration policymaking — since Mr. Trump returned to the White House.
In less than two years, with Miller as deputy chief of staff and homeland security advisor, the second Trump administration effectively shut down the U.S. asylum system; close refugee admissions, with a notable exemption for white South Africans; increased access to various legal immigration benefits, such as green cards; and undertaken highly visible ICE and Border Patrol arrest operations across the country.
These immigration enforcement operations have often triggered widespread community backlash, including in January, when federal immigration agents killed two U.S. citizens, Renee Bonne And Alex Prettiduring a crackdown in Minneapolis that the administration scaled back following a bipartisan outcry.
Miller has publicly floated the idea of suspending habeas corpus – the conditional right given to people to challenge unlawful detention – for ICE detainees. Habeas cases have skyrocketed over the past two years as the Trump administration has dramatically reduced other opportunities for people fighting deportation to be released from ICE detention.
In addition to his immigration portfolio, Miller also played an influential role in the Trump administration’s crackdown on universities and legal groups, as well as its investigative campaign. fraud allegations in Democratic-led states like Minnesota.
Theresa Cardinal Brown, DHS immigration official during the Obama and Bush administrations, said the Trump administration’s deportation efforts would likely face some obstacles next year. She expects congressional Democrats to use their new powers to try to rein in ICE, including issuing a series of subpoenas, holding oversight hearings and passing measures to limit funds for immigration enforcement.
Cardinal Brown also predicts that some communities and states with newly elected Democratic leaders, such as Texas, could abandon or limit policies that allowed or required local law enforcement officials to work with ICE. Last week, Houston’s mayor said he would order local police to limit their cooperation with ICE, following the election results.
But Cardinal Brown pointed out that Mr. Trump would likely veto any Democratic attempt to restrict ICE enforcement and noted that the agency had received $75 billion in funds through 2029 because of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that the president signed into law last year.
“They will continue at a steady pace,” Cardinal Brown said. “They have the money. They have the resources.”
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