Coming in 2026: Increased ICE Raids in Workplaces

President Trump is preparing to widen his immigration crackdown in 2026 with a major funding boost and an increased focus on workplace raids, even as public resistance grows and Republicans head into a risky midterm election year, Reuters reports. Under a July spending package approved by the GOP-led Congress, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol are set to receive an extra $170 billion through 2029, a massive boost to existing annual budgets of about $19 billion. Administration officials say the money will fund thousands of new agents, expanded detention capacity, more arrests, and contracts with private firms to help locate people living in the country without legal status.

White House border adviser Tom Homan told Reuters that arrests will rise sharply as the new resources come online: "I think you're going to see the numbers explode greatly next year," he said, adding that "absolutely" more workplace operations are planned. The strategy comes as polling and recent elections suggest a political price. Trump's approval rating on immigration has slipped from 50% in March to 41% in mid-December, according to Reuters, after highly visible sweeps in major cities that featured masked federal agents, tear gas in residential areas, and the detention of some US citizens. Miami, heavily affected by the crackdowns, elected its first Democratic mayor in nearly 30 years, a shift the mayor-elect partly linked to voter reaction against Trump's approach.

"People are beginning to see this not as an immigration question anymore as much as it is a violation of rights," said Republican strategist Mike Madrid, who warned the tactics are becoming a broader political liability. Policy analyst Sarah Pierce of the center-left Third Way said the planned shift toward job-site enforcement could force employers to decide whether to "finally stand up to this administration." Trump campaigned on record deportations, promising to remove 1 million people each year. Since he took office, about 622,000 immigrants have been deported. Although officials emphasize targeting criminals, ICE data shows 41% of the roughly 54,000 people in custody by late November have no convictions or pending criminal charges beyond alleged immigration offenses. That's up from 6% just before Trump took office.