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National protests against President Trump’s crackdown on immigration put Democrats in a tough political sphere ahead of the high-stakes medium.
The attacks sensationalized Los Angeles after demonstrations against immigration and customs enforcement (ICE) and prompted Trump to call the National Guard under California opposition to protest in cities of all sizes this week, which sparked Republican victory in recent elections.
While many in the party, including California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D), are using the moment to hammer Trump over-the-top executives, some also see the controversy as the key to Democrats defining themselves in immigration, with the Republican having an advantage.
“Democrats have been untrusted to deal with this issue in such a profound loophole that they rebuild themselves as trustworthy people to deal with it, and they will not be able to take advantage of any chaos or softening that happened to Trump (the poll).
Trump won the White House last fall, promising to “seal” the border and launch one-day deportation, and he has been actively suppressing illegal immigrants during his second term. The White House announced last week that ice arrests have exceeded Trump’s 100,000 people so far, and border Tsar Tom Czar Tom Homan said immigration enforcement in the workplace would “expand on a massive scale” amid the blockade.
The protests broke out after the ice raid in Los Angeles, prompting Trump to call up the National Guard and Marines and inspire similar demonstrations in other cities. More about the weekend’s plan, although not everyone targets immigration and is in line with Trump’s massive military parade in Washington.
Demonstrators were largely peaceful, but Republicans seized on the chaotic scene, including viral clips of figures waving Mexican flags in the flames to support long-standing claims that Democrats’ weakness in immigration and crime.
“My party lost its high stance when we refused to condemn cars on fire, destroy buildings and beat law enforcement,” Senator John Fetterman (D-pa.) noted this week.
As a result, blue state leaders in California and elsewhere have been on the balance between supporting the right to protest and condemning any violence, while also debated what has long been the party’s weakness.
“The whole situation is doing what Trump is really good at in his election, and that is to smash immigration and crime together, making the Democrats seem to care about solving both of these issues,” Erikson said.
“If it seems that Democrats let (the lawbreaker) criticize Trump for doing so with impunity, I think it does undermine our trust in American voters.”
Meanwhile, some recent polls have shown that Trump’s approval of immigration processing has been eased as ice raids make headlines.
A Quinnipiac poll released this week gave Trump 11 points on this issue, and five points underwater in April. Last week’s AP-NORC poll gave him 7 points underwater, compared to 2 points last month.
Democratic strategist Maria Cardona believes that if Democrats can avoid playing partisan attitudes to crime and border security and use this moment to unify their messaging of immigration policies, they can make a critical offensive before the next election.
“Part of the problem with Democrats in the last election was that we didn’t talk enough about (immigration) and we didn’t define ourselves. … We gave Republicans a huge openness to weaponize it to us, and they accepted it.”
Cardona said now that the growing protests offer Democrats a “great opportunity”, noting that protests across the country are “Trump’s approach to it is failing.”
New polls in the main 2026 battlefield area of “progressive groups win victory” conducted before the protests began found that Trump is the “strongest and most trustworthy voice” on immigration issues when it comes to immigration compared to Republicans’ Republican counterparts 11 points.
But Democrats have “significant vacancy,” the researchers said. Most voters say Trump and Republicans are “too overdoing” in dealing with immigration, and there is a six-point gap between voters’ support for Republican immigration policies and how those policies are implemented and implemented.
“Immigration was not a winning issue for Democrats last cycle. That’s true … and certainly, remaining silent on the issue didn’t help. So when Trump made his whole campaign a campaign that once again scapegoated immigrants … and there’s no pushback, or if the pushback stays on his turf, making it a story about linking immigration to criminality only, then we lose,” Tory Gavito, president of Way to Win, told The Hill.
“Democrats need to remember that public opinion changes, and Democrats change public opinion by clearly saying what they believe and why,” Garveto said.
His approval of immigration dropped by 10 points when message was received to respondents in the survey, which showed that Trump and Republican immigration enforcement showed a threat to citizens’ rights.
“The immigration policy battlefield is a challenge for the Democrats, and it is. But if you get out of the fight, just let the other side play alone, and that’s their victory.”
Meanwhile, experts say the protests are also a major opportunity for Democrats to beat Trump’s executives and abuse of power, even if they can’t win arguments about immigration.
“The risk of the current protests against Trump’s immigration attacks is that Democrats will be portrayed again as ‘soft crime’, which requires rounded-up immigrants to be placed in serious criminal offenses, which is obviously not the case. California, San Diego, and former immigration adviser and former President Biden’s campaign, in an email to the Hills.
“The potential opportunity for Democrats is that the government will overturn, causing widespread economic damage and rebound in communities where long-term immigrants are integrated.”
Newsom has been one of the leading voices along these lines, throwing Trump’s move in California, a struggle for democracy to survive and could quickly affect the rest of the country.
“It has something to do with all of us. It has something to do with you,” Newsom said this week. “California may be the first place – but obviously won’t end there. Other states are next. Democracy is next.”
The complex dialogue on how Democrats should approach immigration and border security is after the theme is seen as a defining factor in the loss in 2024 and with the high risk of the party expecting next year.
“For Democrats, immigration is likely to be a wedge issue for the season. If they rotate in one direction, they will be painted and represent non-Americans to be seen as anti-order. … If they swing in the other direction, they will be seen as a destruction of our democracy,” said Frod Hist, a Democratic strategist.
“We have to connect it to the bigger problem with the Trump administration,” Hicks said. “It can’t be just immigration or else the risk of Democrats losing their expected advantage in 2026.”