Key events
That’s all for now!
Thank you for participating in our final reader conversation ahead of the midterm elections on November 3.
We’ve been hosting a series of reader Q&As on topics important to Americans before they head to the polls. We hope these conversations are able to provide insight and data on issues that could be on your ballot. You can read the conversations back here:
We’ll be back during election week to discuss results, control of Congress and more. For now, keep up with our coverage of the midterms by signing up to the Stakes newsletter here and bookmarking our US midterm elections page.
How do Trump voters feel about his immigration policies?
Anonymous reader, Maryland asks in a callout question:
How do prior Trump and/or MAGA voters assess his administration’s immigration policies and actions and what effect will this have on their mid-term voting choices? Why?
Maanvi: Donald Trump ran on immigration as a top issue – but since taking office, voter support for his immigration crackdown has flagged. A Reuters/Ipsos poll released on 21 September found that only 36% of voters approved of Trump’s handling of immigration. According to Pew research, half of Americans see the administration’s immigration tactics as too aggressive. Voters who self-identify as “Maga” still seem to strongly support Trump’s immigration policies, but fissures have appeared among Republican voters overall. This is especially clear in Republican districts that Trump easily carried during the presidential election. In deep-red Texas, for example, a poll by the New York Times and Siena University found voters there evenly split on which Senate candidate they trusted more to handle immigration – a striking shift in a state that hasn’t elected a Democratic senator in almost 40 years. Republican candidates are now trying to distance themselves from the most extreme parts of the administration’s crackdown. Republican senator Roger Marshall – who had once vehemently backed Trump’s immigration agenda – recently softened his hardline rhetoric, saying ICE should coordinate with local law enforcement. We’ve already mentioned here how this is playing out with Latino Republicans in Florida. Overall, an October NBC News/Telemundo poll of registered Latino voters found that two-thirds believe his enforcement policies have gone “too far”. Of those polled, 17% said that they or someone close to them had considered not voting in person this year because of concerns about ICE.
How can assisted living facilities survive without immigrant workers?
Anonymous reader, Massachusetts asks in a callout question: Assisted living facilities for the elderly and disabled are grossly understaffed due to Trump’s policies. The lifting of Temporary Protected Status (TPS) is a major contributor to short-staffing, as Haitians filled the majority of these roles. This has put the elderly and disabled at risk. What will politicians do to right this wrong?
Maanvi: Indeed, of the 330,000 Haitian TPS holders who suddenly lost their legal status this summer, about 13,000 work daily as nursing assistants, caring for 65,000 patients, according to a report commissioned by Democratic senators. But Trump’s immigration policies appear to have impacts across the healthcare system. According to the Association of American Medical Colleges, nearly one in four doctors in the US was trained abroad – and have been crucial to addressing medical staff shortages in rural areas, where few American doctors want to move.
In terms of legislative solutions – short of broad overhaul of immigration policies, legislators have tried approaches help immigrants in the healthcare workforce. This month, for example, Democratic representatives Adam Smith (Washington) and Raja Krishnamoorthi (Illinois) introduced two bills that would open grants for programs that provide training, licensing, certification, etc for immigrants interested in entering the health care field and allow non-US-citizen immigrants to work for the National Health Service Corps.
Have Trump’s immigration strategies on the border and within the US been effective?
Simon Rowell, Florida asks in a callout question: With the Trump administration claiming total success in halting unauthorized immigration-citing a drop in border encounters, does ICE’s current interior focus function as a targeted, effective strategy to address the remaining unauthorized population, or has it devolved into a high-visibility PR exercise that relies more on tactical theater than measurable policy results? Does it really achieve anything useful or is it simply a point scoring mechanism for the electorate?
Jose: I think it is important to clarify what “border encounters” mean in the context of immigration enforcement. A border encounter does not only take place when someone is caught crossing the border between ports of entry. A border encounter can also be Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officials interacting or processing an immigrant who arrives to the US and requests asylum. Previously, the vast majority of border encounters were at ports of entry with asylum seekers. Trump, during his first day in office, filed a proclamation that essentially shut down the border — what observers call an “asylum ban.” Earlier this year, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the asylum ban was unlawful, prompting the Trump administration to ask the Supreme Court to review it (we’re not sure if the Supreme Court will take up the case).
There are lots of factors why border encounters are at an all-time low, including the asylum ban and Mexico’s role in immigration enforcement efforts. But also, people might still be trying to cross into the US between ports of entry, in terrain that is extremely difficult and dangerous that may not be hyper-surveilled, like through the Sonoran desert. It’s also important to remember that ICE is a massive agency. Not only does ICE carry out deportation work (through its Enforcement and Removal Operations teams), but they also enforce and investigate around 400 federal statutes (through Homeland Security Investigations), including drug trafficking, child exploitation, human trafficking, internet/deepweb crimes, etc.
Jose continues: However, there have been internal and public criticisms of the Trump administration for putting so many resources in its immigration/deportation work, leaving other crimes untouched. There are Homeland Security Investigations special agents who have been frustrated that their work (child exploitation investigations, drug trafficking, etc.) is being pushed to the side, while they are forced to do the ERO deportation work. The first year of the Trump administration saw massive, large-scale “surge” operations around the country (Los Angeles, Chicago, Minneapolis), where federal officials entered cities, puffing out their chests as a show of force to carry out the “mass deportation” campaign promise. However, those operations were deeply unpopular, especially after the shooting deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti. Now, ICE has shifted tactics, engaging in quieter arrests and operations that have, arguably, been more effective in terms of arresting, detaining and deporting immigrants.
In terms of PR exercises and tactical theatre, I would like to add the following: the Trump administration has time-and-time again equated undocumented immigrants and asylum seekers with crime. They have repeatedly claimed that immigrants are the “worst of the worst” and are wreaking havoc throughout the US. ICE’s own statistics, however, do not show that to be the case — it seems their claims of immigrants being the “worst of the worst” is crumbling as they continue with their operations.
What is the Democratic party’s position on immigration?
Bruce, Maryland asks in a callout question: What is the Democrats’ policy on immigration? Why is the party (not individual candidates) so afraid of publicizing its position on major issues (DEI, immigration, climate change, etc.)?
Sam: On the campaign trail, immigration has not been a major talking point of many Democratic candidates, and I think it remains to be seen what their specific policy priorities would be if they regain control of Congress. I’m chatting with a politics colleague about it now, and she pointed out that many Democrats have largely avoided the subject other than condemning Trump’s crackdown and agreeing there must be controls at the border. Democrats have not been aligned and put forward a clear, proactive vision on what they would do differently.
Will there be justice for US citizens killed or injured by immigration enforcement officers?
MJ Upham, Colorado asks in a callout question: Will there ever be justice for Renee Good and Alex Pretti? Will changes in the House and Senate do anything for all of the innocent people being held in detention centers?
Sam: It is historically very rare for officers in the US, whether local or federal, to face criminal charges for shooting or killing civilians and even rarer that they are convicted. The Trump administration has defended officers’ actions in nearly all high-profile cases, and the Minnesota Star Tribune reported today that the DoJ has halted cooperation in the ongoing state investigations into the killings of Renee Good and Alex Pretti, according to Minnesota officials. So even if Democrats regain a majority in Congress, the federal government will continue to have significant power in these cases, which will make it difficult for families and communities to get the accountability they are demanding.
If Democrats take control, I expect we may see more hearings where DHS officials are forced to answer questions about these cases and about detention conditions, and Democrats would have more leverage in disputes about the funds going to ICE and detention, which could have some impact on Trump’s agenda.
How are US farms surviving without immigrant workers?
Cheryl Bath, Wisconsin asks in a callout question: During covid I was surprised to learn how many foreign workers, especially from Mexico, worked in the Wisconsin farm fields. And now, I was more surprised to learn that these workers would also be deported and not allowed to work any longer at these fields even though it was all legal with paperwork. These foreign workers paid into the federal government taxes and social security system which was a plus for U.S. social security. I’ve been wondering how these Wisconsin farms are dealing with the absence of these workers seeing how it is harvesting time right now. Propublica had a article a year or so ago about the effects of this immigration sweep on the workers and the farms but that was still when the workers were still here. I can’t find any follow up or information on this anywhere. I think the farmers really feel left out to deal with this on their own and no one is asking questions. Maybe you can?
Maanvi: Cattle ranchers and dairy farmers have indeed been pushing for immigration reform, not only recently, but for years – because the industry relies so heavily on immigrant labor. In September, the the Texas Cattle Feeders Association, Kansas Livestock Association, and Oklahoma Cattlemen’s Association issued a joint warning that ICE operations were threatening their industy, and would have “a massive chilling effect on the legal, documented, skilled workers that put beef on the table and keep the supply chain moving”. I recently spoke with Matt Teagarden, CEO of the Kansas Livestock Association, who said that the US cattle herd has shrunk to its lowest numbers in 75 years – and ranchers are struggling to keep up with consumer demand. Farms aren’t able to expand operations without immigrant labor – and Teagarden said that this could mean that US consumers will increasingly be eating imported beef. He also noticed that ICE crackdowns are having a systemic impact on agriculture – it’s not only dairy or cattle industry workers who are impacted, but also farmworkers who grow the feed for cows, and immigrant workers who process the dairy and meat before it gets to grocery stores. Two-thirds of farm workers are non-citizen immigrants. As the administration targets these workers, food producers could struggle to keep up operations, and prices are expected to increase steeply, according to a study by the thinktank Fwd.us.
José: Many people caught up in the Trump administration’s dragnet are workers in the US — they pay taxes and contribute to Social Security, while receiving almost none of the benefits. The process to gain asylum or remain in the US can be long and arduous — oftentimes, as undocumented people go through the process, they will receive work permits, Social Security numbers and, in certain states, driver’s licenses. Now, many people with those legal work permits have been arrested by federal immigration officials and sit in detention centers, waiting for their immigration cases to proceed.
¿Hasta qué punto las deportaciones y las políticas migratorias de Donald Trump están influyendo en el voto de los estadounidenses?
Catalina Beleña Martinez, España, nos envió una pregunta por callout:
¿Hasta qué punto las deportaciones y las políticas migratorias de Donald Trump están influyendo en el voto de los estadounidenses? ¿Se está votando por seguridad, por miedo o por convicción?
Jose: Para cada persona que ha sido arrestada por ICE, hay docenas de personas afectadas. No solamente afecta a los familiares — hijos, hijas, parejas, etc. — pero también a la comunidad que posiblemente han cultivado en los Estados Unidos. Gracias a esto, y también con los métodos agresivos que hemos estado viendo, hay algunas comunidades que apoyaron a Trump en el 2024 (principalmente cubanos en Florida), que están poco a poco abandonando y dejando de apoyar a la política migratoria de la administración. Esto se puede ver con la campaña de la congresista María Elvira Salazar, una republicana de Florida, que tuvo una ruptura muy pública con Trump y su política migratoria. En un comercial de su campaña, la congresista le dijo a Trump que “los mismos hispanos que te ayudaron llegar a la Casa Blanca en el 2024 se sienten traicionados hoy en día.” Una encuesta de NBC News y Telemundo de votantes latinos encontró que el 2/3 de ellos piensan que la política migratoria de Trump está fuera de control (“too far”). El 17% de los que participaron en la encuesta dijeron que ellos, o algún conocido, están considerando no votar en persona este año, por preocupación de ICE. Vamos a tener que ver realmente cuáles serán los resultados de estas elecciones y de ahí podremos ver cuáles comunidades y cuántas personas votaron por el partido Demócrata gracias a la poítica migratoria. Pero después de eso, si ganan los Demócratas, hay que ver realmente lo que van a hacer para oponerse a la política migratoria de Trump. Por ejemplo, muchas personas que trabajan con migrantes estuvieron sumamente decepcionados con la administración de Biden, porque después del primer mandato de Trump, él decidió continuar muchas de las políticas agresivas de Trump.
How many ICE agents are in the field, and do they have working body cameras?
Paul, Texas asks in a callout question: How many ICE agents are there in the field? What percentage of ICE agents have verified working cameras?
Sam: ICE launched an extraordinary and rapid hiring push last year after the agency received an unprecedented $170bn in funding for immigration and border enforcement activities. With DHS lowering its standards for new recruits and reducing training, there have been significant concerns about the quality of hires, as I reported last year.
At the start of 2026, ICE said it had doubled the number of its officers and agents from 10,000 to 22,000, though as my colleagues have reported, the department has extensively relied on local, cooperative police to support their deportation efforts.
In terms of body cameras, ICE in recent weeks has said it now has enough of the devices for all officers, though it’s unclear how widely the cameras have been distributed and used.
The agency has also at times signaled its reluctance to release footage, so the impact of this deployment, particularly in terms of accountability for alleged misconduct, remains to be seen.
Why can’t local law enforcement monitor ICE?
Richard Wolfe, Maine asks in a callout question: Why can’t local law enforcement be assigned to monitor ICE?
Maanvi: Across the US, local police, highway patrol, sheriffs departments, even Fish and Wildlife Services actually work directly with ICE – helping the federal government find and arrest immigrants as part of what’s called the 287(g) program. In many regions, it’s unclear whether local cops are conducting routine police work (pulling someone over for speeding, or conducting a drug operation) or engaging in immigration enforcement. Sometimes, it’s both at the same time.
I recently wrote about an operation at the El Corralón bar in Memphis on 29 August. It began as a police raid targeting illegal gambling and drugs turned into one of the largest sweeps of undocumented immigrants in Tennessee – 120 people were detained. Initially, search warrants at the bar related to drugs and gambling targeted the bar’s owner. But agents also arrested a number of patrons on immigration charges.
How often has DHS targeted US citizens?
Nola67 from comments: After Ilhan Omar’s house was raided, I’m wondering if there’s any kind of statistic that shows how much ICE/DHS has come after US citizens or tried to fake evidence?
Sam: The federal government has said it was working to carry out the “largest denaturalization effort in history,” and there have been isolated DoJ announcements of cases to strip people of citizenship based on their criminal records or claims that they illegally procured their naturalization. Denaturalization cases have been brought under previous administrations, and it’s unclear if the scale of this administration’s efforts match its rhetoric. We do know that US immigration agents in the field have frequently detained US citizens. The Trump administration has repeatedly downplayed this problem, but ProPublica recently did great reporting documenting reports of 506 citizens detained by DHS between January 2025 and September 2026.
Will Craft, data editor at the Guardian US:
It’s hard to know how often us citizens are being arrested, the impact from immigration enforcement goes way beyond just the person getting arrested. We know for a fact that immigration is impacting US citizens across the country and there are lots of families with mixed statuses. When a person is arrested, the impacts reverberate throughout a family and a community. We sued the Trump administration for records on the people being arrested, and found that the data had a column for the citizenship of the person’s children. Thousands of parents, nearly 7,500 fathers and 1,000 mothers in the first 7 months of the Trump admin, had a different nationality than at least one of their children. In about half of these families, siblings had different citizenships from each other. That means that those families faced incredibly difficult decisions about how they might get split up. Taken together, it really seems like a new family separation crisis created by the US government.
Has Trump’s immigration agenda contributed to a drop in visits to the US?
Mr_202 from comments: Has there been a drop in visitor numbers to America either as tourists or migrant workers and if so, are US voters and businesses feeling the economic pinch?
Maanvi: It’s hard to pin down exactly how much US tourism has been affected by Trump’s immigration crackdown. But various Trump policies have certainly made it more difficult for people from certain countries to visit the US – either as tourists, or academics and students, or business visitors.
Earlier this year, union leaders in the hospitality industry said that the immigration crackdown has not only scared immigrant workers in the tourism indosuty, but also discouraged international tourism.
The number of employed hospitality workers dropped by 98,000 from December 2024 to December 2025, according to a report from Unite Here, which represents 300,000 workers across the hospitality, food and tourism industries in the US and Canada.
The US saw a decline of $1.2bn, or a 5.5% drop, in tourism revenue from September 2024 to September 2025, according to a report by Unite Here. International visitors to the US declined by 2.5 million in 2025, even as international tourism increased around the world, according to the report.
How could a Democrat majority in Congress change US policy towards refugees?
Abdullahi Duale Muhumed, Dadaab Refugee Camp, asks in a callout question: Could a Democratic majority in Congress after the November 2026 midterm elections help reinstate the Welcome Corps refugee sponsorship programme? If Democrats gain control of the House of Representatives or the Senate, what practical steps could they take to restore the programme, and how much power would President Trump retain to block those efforts? For refugees who were hoping to find safety in the United States through Welcome Corps, could a change in congressional leadership offer a realistic path to reopening the programme?
José Olivares: The Welcome Corps refugee program, like all refugee programs in the US, was canceled and shut down by the Trump administration in early 2025. This was then compounded with further constraints on refugee communities and their ability to enter the US via travel bans — all through executive order. We recently reported on how the US is admitting only 17,500 refugees for Fiscal Year 2027, but they will “primarily” be white Afrikaners from South Africa. The administration’s refugee policies are now leaving thousands of vetted and approved refugees stuck in refugee camps or in dangerous conditions, including relatives of US citizens. It is hard to speculate, but a Democratic majority in congress would have a very challenging time reinstating the refugee and resettlement programs. Congress would have to introduce and then pass new legislation to override Trump’s refugee and “travel ban” executive orders, which would be a lengthy and difficult battle. At the moment, there is a major lawsuit playing out in a federal court that is challenging the administration’s refugee policies and executive orders. Advocates are hopeful that a federal judge will side with them to potentially override Trump’s executive orders and allow refugees to enter the US.
How were the Trump administration’s comments on ICE agents getting “absolute immunity” handled?
Anonymous reader, Georgia asks in a callout question: There were comments early on from Trump and his AG suggesting ICE agents had “absolute immunity”. I’m curious if this was handled/litigated beyond just discussion in the media.
Sam: When immigration agents shoot people, DHS typically responds with statements claiming the use of force was justified and in self defense. It is exceptionally rare for the federal government under Trump to take any stance that suggests offers who injure, shoot or kill people should face accountability or any consequences. But it’s worth noting an isolated case last month where DOJ filed charges against an agent who shot a Venezuelan man in Minnesota. Federal prosecutors accused him of making false statements. This case would suggest that officers do not, in fact, have “absolute immunity”, even in the eyes of the Trump administration. It’s also very rare for local officials to file charges against federal officers, but it’s possible we will see more of those cases resulting in some levels of accountability for federal agents’ use of force.
How has support for Trump’s immigration agenda changed among Latine/Hispanic Americans?
Anonymous reader, California asks in a callout question: What impact the ICE actions are having on the Latino vote, particularly in states like FL? I am very concerned about the many tactics that the Trump Administration can deploy to frustrate voting, (last minute mobilization of ICE, Federalization of Nat’l Guard, martial law, litigation questioning the results, delaying the swearing in of the new representatives). Any thoughts on the likelyhood of any or all of these?
Maanvi Singh: Politically, it’s clear that Trump’s immigration crackdown is affecting Republican candidates in key Florida midterms races – opening a door for Democrats. Latino voters who helped carry Trump to victory in the presidential election have seen the crackdown affect their communities, and daily lives. Florida restaurant and hotel owners have said that ICE’s presence is frightening away both workers and customers. Republican congresswoman María Elvira Salazar – who is re-election in a central Miami district that Trump carried – aired a Spanish-language ad breaking with the president, saying his immigration crackdown had “betrayed” Hispanic voters in her district.
Meanwhile, the stakes are high for Latino voters in the state. New changes to state election laws, pushed by Republican legislators, will de-register voters who do not participate in this election. And there’s a mountain of disinformation targeting Latino voters.
Sam Levin: The Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security have launched aggressive efforts across the country to stop alleged “voter fraud” by noncitizens, and there are growing concerns these crackdowns could intimidate lawful voters and be used to sow doubt in the results of the elections. The DoJ recently sued California, alleging widespread voter fraud and demanding the state be blocked from tabulating certain ballots the DoJ claimed could belong to US citizens, but state officials have strongly rejected those claims and said the DoJ was incorrectly flagging US citizens as potential ineligible voters. It’s really unusual for the government to take these kinds of actions so close to an election, and there are worries the theatrics around these efforts could discourage people from going to the polls.
Welcome to the conversation
It’s our last US midterms live Q&A before election day on 3 November, and our reporters are answering your immigration questions.
Since Donald Trump began his second term, ICE arrests have reached record levels, operations have become deadly, and immigration raids have hit politicians’ homes. Our reporting has documented the experiences of those directly affected by the harsh conditions in detention centers and resistance to ICE agents on the ground.
Immigration remains a key issue for voters in the final weeks of campaigning. Joining us on Thursday at 12pm ET (5pm BST) to answer questions on candidates’ platforms, the effects on your community, ICE and more are immigration reporters Maanvi Singh and José Olivares, along with Los Angeles correspondent Sam Levin.
Sign in or sign up to join the conversation.
The US politics team is hosting a series of reader Q&As leading up to the November US midterm elections. See our first four conversations, here:
Looking for more coverage ahead of the midterms? Sign up to The Stakes newsletter: your weekly guide to the US midterms
Source: www.theguardian.com
