Democrats are diving forcefully into the immigration fight, dismissing concerns about political backlash to confront President Trump directly on a polarizing issue that ranks among the president’s strongest suits in the eyes of voters. 

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) is leading the charge. Not only has he waged an animated defense of Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-N.J.), who is facing federal charges following a recent scuffle with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents outside a migrant detention center in New Jersey, but he’s also demanding that the masked ICE officers involved in the fracas and Trump’s broader mass deportation campaign be publicly identified. 

“Every single ICE agent who is engaged in this aggressive overreach and are trying to hide their identities from the American people will be unsuccessful in doing that,” Jeffries told reporters in the Capitol. 

“This is America,” he added. “This is not the Soviet Union. We’re not behind the Iron Curtain. This is not the 1930s. And every single one of them, no matter what it takes, no matter how long it takes, will of course be identified.”

The call drew immediate howls from officials with the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and other Republicans, who have long-accused Democrats of siding with people in the country illegally over the rule of law a major theme of Trump’s successful campaign last year. Many of the GOP critics are accusing Democrats of putting the safety of federal law enforcement officers in jeopardy.

“We take threats to law enforcement very seriously.  As the state leading the nation in immigration enforcement, FL will not sit idly by and allow agents from DHS/ICE and/or state and local agencies to be targeted,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) posted on X, linking to Jeffries’s comments.

DeSantis said he’s instructed Florida law enforcers to be on the lookout for any “doxxing” campaigns aimed at law enforcers, and to respond quickly. 

“Sabotaging the work of those in the immigration enforcement arena will not stand!” he wrote. 

Capitol Hill Republicans are piling on. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) this week introduced legislation designed to shield federal law enforcers from doxxing. Violators could face five years in prison.

The pushback has done little to dissuade Jeffries, who on Thursday doubled down on his identification push, wondering why those involved in Trump’s mass deportation campaign should enjoy privileges of anonymity that others in law enforcement don’t. 

“It seems to me that the officials at the Department of Homeland Security, including ICE, should be held to the same standards as every other part of law enforcement in terms of transparency,” he said. 

The strategy has its risks. 

Trump has built his political brand around an “America First” message that helped propel him into the White House in 2016 and again in 2024. His “big, beautiful bill” working its way through Congress includes, as a central feature, an immigration crackdown that helped usher the bill through the House last month. And while Trump’s approval rating is underwater across almost every major issue, including the economy, recent polls indicate that his approach to immigration is the sole exception, winning more supporters than detractors. 

Still, the Democrats’ aggressive pushback against Trump’s policies is a clear sign that they’re not shying away from the immigration issue, regardless of the potential pitfalls. And the de-masking of ICE agents is just one front of a much broader fight they’re taking up this year.

In recent weeks, Democrats have also rallied behind immigrants deported without due process, including a Maryland resident who was mistakenly sent to El Salvador. They’ve staged public protests outside migrant detention centers, like the one in Newark that led to McIver’s arrest. And top Democrats are up in arms after DHS agents stormed into the district office of Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and handcuffed a staffer with accusations that aides were “harboring” immigration “rioters.”

Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), the senior Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, characterized the latter incident as “intolerable.” 

“I’m relieved this situation was resolved, but DHS’s actions first, in attempting to enter the office without a warrant or consent, and then proceeding to handcuff and detain a terrified young congressional staffer without cause were the stuff of police in a banana republic or a gangster state,” Raskin said in an email. 

“This outrageous behavior reflects an alarming disregard for the law and a shocking disrespect for the people’s House and the lawmaking branch of government,” he continued. “DHS does not have the authority to barge into congressional offices with vague demands and arrest or intimidate legislative staffers. We will not tolerate such lawlessness.”

Raskin and Nadler are pressing Republicans on the Judiciary Committee, led by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), to stage hearings on the unusual incident.  

The most recent battleline of the partisan immigration war arrived this week, when Trump announced a travel ban affecting 12 countries. The makeup of the targets largely African or Middle Eastern countries with mostly non-white populations were not overlooked by Democrats, some of whom accused the president of using official policy to promote bigotry. 

“Make no mistake: Trump’s latest travel ban will NOT make America safer,” Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) wrote on X. “We cannot continue to allow the Trump administration to write bigotry and hatred into U.S. immigration policy.”

Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.) delivered a similar warning. 

“From his first Muslim Ban, Trump’s travel bans have always betrayed … the ideals and values that inspired America’s Founders,” Beyer posted on X. “Trump’s use of prejudice and bigotry to bar people from entering the U.S. does not make us safer, it just divides us and weakens our global leadership.”