After ugly campaigns, midterm wins give immigrants hope
Democratic House could prevent Republican crackdown
As Isabel Cortes and her sister, Mayte, watched Tuesday night’s election results roll in on TV from their home in Hayward, Calif., they felt more relieved than they had in two years.
Eight of the 10 children in their family have been beneficiaries of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, the Obama-era program that gives temporary relief from deportation to undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as minors. It’s a program the Trump administration is racing to end.
This election brought up questions of identity and belonging in the nation they consider home. For their family and immigrants across the U.S., the mixed outcome of Tuesday’s election offers a glimmer of hope, particularly after an ugly campaign where immigrants were demonized by the president and by many of the candidates he backed.
At the federal level, the split in Congress means the new, Democratic majority in the House of Representatives will be a check on Mr. Trump’s most restrictive immigration policies. For those who want to limit immigration further, high-profile Republican wins — and the party’s hold on the Senate— are a mandate for their policies. Advocates see potential to rein in Mr. Trump’s immigration policies, though, especially because of wins in state and local races.
“I also think it sends a message that we’re not OK with this rhetoric of xenophobia and misogyny and racism, and that people turned out to vote,” Ms. Cortes said. Though she now has a green card — legal permanent residency — through marriage, she worries about the fate of her siblings with DACA and her undocumented parents, who live in a more conservative part of California.
“The work did not end on Election Day. That’s when it begins,” said Cristina Jiménez, executive director of United We Dream, a nationwide, youth-led immigrant activist group. “Now we know who to pressure to uphold the values they said they espouse and to actually deliver the promises they’ve promised to our communities.”
A split Congress
At the federal level, advocates said, the most immigrants can hope for from Congress is gridlock.
Although Democrats took control of the House, winning more than 23 seats, Republicans maintained firm control of the Senate. The House may introduce legislation on immigration reform or try to save programs like DACA and Temporary Protected Status — created by Congress in 1990, with the goal of providing safe haven for immigrants when war, a natural disaster or an epidemic make going back home too dangerous. Such legislation is unlikely to get past the Senate over the next two years, and Mr. Trump would have veto power if it did.
But a split Congress will also act as a check on Mr. Trump’s executive power.
“His wish list of restrictionist legislation will clearly now not go anywhere,” said Anil Kalhan, an immigration law professor at Drexel University in Philadelphia. “Because even though Republicans have gained in the Senate, it’s not enough to really move legislation without getting through the House. That’s a pretty consequential result.”
Where Congress can really shape immigration policy — and rein in Mr. Trump’s efforts to curb both irregular and legal immigration — is through oversight and the budget process.
Democrats are “in a position to conduct oversight hearings, on things like family separation, for example, and hold federal agencies accountable for their practices: How are dollars being spent? How are people being treated in detention?” said Ali Noorani, executive director of the National Immigration Forum, an immigration advocacy group.
Democrats will take over several influential House panels, with the power to investigate and subpoena witnesses on two years’ worth of controversial immigration actions. They will be in charge of the Appropriations Committee, which decides what gets funded. There they could stymie Mr. Trump’s border wall or question the transfer of $200 million from various parts of the Department of Homeland Security to Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Judiciary Committee, which handles immigration policy, could investigate the administration’s “zero-tolerance” policy that separated families at the border or efforts to curb refugee admissions. And Democrats’ control of the Homeland Security Committee, which oversees border security, would give them more say in Mr. Trump’s troop deployment to the southern border.
The local impact
At the state and local levels, initiatives that protect immigrants fared well in races around the country.
“What we are seeing is mixed outcomes overall, but what’s really clear is the number of people engaging and voting this time,” Ms. Jiménez said. “We’ve seen historical numbers to push back on this administration.”
In Florida, she and other immigration activists spent the days leading up to the election knocking on doors to get out the vote for Andrew Gillum, a progressive candidate for governor who conceded to Trump-backed Ron DeSantis. They also pushed voters to support Florida’s Amendment 4, which restores voting rights for some 1.5 million citizens, many foreignborn, who were convicted of felonies.
“It’s a huge victory,” she said. “Over a million black and brown people have been restored their right to vote. It could be a huge game-changer.”