Democrats Pressure Trump for Immigration Reform After Midterm Wins

Democratic lawmakers and business leaders lobbied the Trump administration on Wednesday to prioritize work permits and protections for long-term immigrants during the current lame-duck session of Congress. The push follows midterm elections in which Democrats flipped the U.S. House and Senate, leading several Texas representatives to characterize the results as a public rebuke of the administration's mass deportation campaign.

Donald Trump acknowledged in a 60 Minutes interview that his enforcement policies might be too aggressive and suggested that a deal on immigration is doable. While he expressed openness to work permit agreements for specific industries, he simultaneously appointed Stephen Miller, a primary architect of harsh immigration policies, as White House chief of staff.

Lawmakers including Senator Ruben Gallego and Representative Henry Cuellar are advocating for reforms at Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. To reach a compromise, some Democrats expressed willingness to prioritize the deportation of immigrants convicted of serious crimes. If legislation fails before the end of the year, Democrats intend to leverage their upcoming majorities in the 120th Congress to pass either a comprehensive reform bill or incremental protections for specific immigrant communities.