Democratic Lawmakers Introduce First Steps to Rein in ICE Under Donald Trump After Midterms: ‘We Need to Bring Sanity Back to Immigration’
Adam Downer, OK Magazine, November 12, 2026
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On November 11, the Democrats advocated for finding a way to get immigrants who have been in the country illegally but work and have no criminal record a path to legal status.
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To that end, the focus of the press conference was “legal pathways for long-term immigrants,” which the president signaled he was open to in an eye-opening 60 Minutes interview earlier this week.
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Democrats have been talking tough about reforming or abolishing ICE, and incoming House Oversight Chair Robert Garcia has hinted he will investigate the most visible and violent arm of Trump’s immigration enforcement tactics when the new Democratic-majority congress is sworn in this January.
The assembled Democrats suggested that bipartisan reforms could be made before their party came into power. They championed the American Dreams and Promises Act, which would allow legal paths to green cards for undocumented children brought onto U.S. soil, and the bipartisan Dignity Act, which contains a mix of border security measures and protections for undocumented immigrants.
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The Democrats insisted that such reforms would only be the precursor to more dramatic actions they would take with potential control of the House, Senate and presidency in 2028.
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It remains to be seen if President Trump is serious about immigration reform. While he admitted that ICE’s actions harmed Republicans in the midterms and sounded open to working with Democrats on reforms, he also promoted Stephen Miller, the most influential immigration hardliner in America, to be his Chief of Staff.
After Trump’s 60 Minutes interview, Republicans scrambled to spin Trump’s comments by insisting there’d be no “amnesty” for illegal immigrants.
