US President Donald Trump is moving towards a tougher immigration enforcement push in 2026, backed by billions of dollars in additional funding, including plans to step up raids at workplaces, even as criticism grows ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
The administration has already increased the presence of immigration officers in major US cities, carrying out operations in residential areas that have at times led to confrontations with local communities. Although federal agents have conducted several high-profile business raids this year, they have generally steered clear of farms, factories and other key sectors that rely heavily on workers without legal immigration status.
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Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and the Border Patrol are set to receive an extra $170 billion in funding through September 2029, marking a sharp increase from their combined annual budgets of around $19 billion. The funding boost follows the passage of a large spending package by the Republican-controlled Congress in July.
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Administration officials say they plan to hire thousands more agents, open new detention centers, pick up more immigrants in local jails and partner with outside companies to track down people without legal status.
The expanded deportation plans come despite growing signs of political backlash ahead of next year’s midterm elections.
Miami, one of the cities most affected by Trump’s crackdown because of its large immigrant population, elected its first Democratic mayor in nearly three decades last week in what the mayor-elect said was, in part, a reaction to the president. Other local elections and polling have suggested rising concern among voters wary of aggressive immigration tactics.
”People are beginning to see this not as an immigration question anymore as much as it is a violation of rights, a violation of due process and militarising neighbourhoods extra constitutionally,” said Mike Madrid, a moderate Republican political strategist. ”There is no question that is a problem for the president and Republicans.”
Trump’s overall approval rating on immigration policy fell from 50% in March, before he launched crackdowns in several major U.S. cities, to 41% in mid-December, for what had been his strongest issue.
Rising public unease has focused on masked federal agents using aggressive tactics such as deploying tear gas in residential neighbourhoods and detaining U.S. citizens.
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’Numbers will explode’
In addition to expanding enforcement actions, Trump has stripped hundreds of thousands of Haitian, Venezuelan and Afghan immigrants of temporary legal status, expanding the pool of people who could be deported as the president promises to remove 1 million immigrants each year – a goal he almost certainly will miss this year. So far, some 622,000 immigrants have been deported since Trump took office in January.
White House border czar Tom Homan told Reuters Trump had delivered on his promise of a historic deportation operation and removing criminals while shutting down illegal immigration across the US-Mexico border. Homan said the number of arrests will increase sharply as ICE hires more officers and expands detention capacity with the new funding.
“I think you’re going to see the numbers explode greatly next year,” Homan said.
Homan said the plans “absolutely” include more enforcement actions at workplaces.
Sarah Pierce, director of social policy at the center-left group Third Way, said U.S. businesses have been reluctant to push back on Trump’s immigration crackdown in the past year but could be prompted to speak up if the focus turns to employers.
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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 record levels of deportations, saying it was needed after years of high levels of illegal immigration under his Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden. He kicked off a campaign that dispatched federal agents to U.S. cities in search of possible immigration offenders, sparking protests and lawsuits over racial profiling and violent tactics.
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