Democrats Engage in ‘Treacherous' Fight with Trump on Immigration, Protests
Tom Brenner/For The Washington Post
Rep. Pete Aguilar (California) and other Democrats speak on the steps of the U.S. House on June 12 after the forcible removal of Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) from a news conference earlier in the day featuring Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem.
Democrats are trying to strike a careful balance as tensions escalate with President Donald Trump over immigration and street protests, issues on which Republicans have held a political advantage in recent years.
Party leaders are anxious to tamp down scenes of unrest – dismayed at photos of Mexican flags being waved around burning cars that seem ready-made for attack ads – but also eager to tap into growing outrage over the Trump administration's deportation raids, deployment of the military on U.S. soil, and threats to arrest demonstrators and elected officials.
Now the party faces another test: the nationwide protests planned for Saturday. The gatherings in major cities, planned long before the showdown in California, could be the largest mass demonstration yet against Trump's second term at a moment that Democrats see as full of pitfalls but also opportunity.
'Every time a troublemaker sets a car on fire, he wins,' Democratic strategist Chuck Rocha said of Trump. 'Every time somebody takes to the street of an American city and peacefully protests, we're winning because we're bringing attention to a government that's starting to look more and more authoritarian.'
Sen. Alex Padilla (D-California) confronted Homeland Security Secretary Kristi L. Noem at a news conference Thursday and was pinned down and handcuffed by FBI and Secret Service police, creating a viral moment that his Democratic colleagues quickly amplified. And California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) railed against Trump's decision to send the National Guard and Marines to Los Angeles earlier in the week and compared the president's threats to arrest him to those of 'authoritarian regimes.'
Sen. Brian Schatz (D-Hawaii) delivered an impassioned speech on the Senate floor Thursday condemning Padilla's treatment during Noem's news conference. In the same address, Schatz urged protesters: 'Be very disciplined this weekend. Be very peaceful this weekend.' The center-left think tank Third Way promoted a clip of Schatz on social media.
Democrats have struggled in consecutive elections to navigate internal divisions over immigration and public safety and respond to Republican attacks portraying them as weak, paying a price at the ballot box for far-left slogans such as 'Abolish ICE' and 'Defund the police.' But some believe that Trump has overplayed his edge with his actions in California and beyond, giving them an opening to turn public opinion in their favor.
The clashes in Los Angeles offer both parties some reasons for optimism. Polls show Americans narrowly oppose the protests of immigration enforcement there. The country is also closely divided on Trump's decision to deploy the National Guard and the Marines, which Newsom and other Democratic leaders said inflamed a situation that was under control. Some polls show Americans narrowly oppose it.
'It's a politically treacherous moment for everyone involved,' Democratic strategist David Axelrod said.
Over the past week, images of burning cars helped fuel Republicans' portrayal of Democratic-led cities as unruly disasters, even as the unrest in Los Angeles was confined mostly to a few blocks. Initially, it was an unwelcome change of topic for Democrats, who had been watching with glee as Trump and billionaire donor Elon Musk engaged in a petty feud and as Republicans fought over Trump's tax bill on Capitol Hill.
'This anarchy will not stand,' Trump said Tuesday, referring to the Los Angeles protests. 'We will not allow federal agents to be attacked, and we will not allow an American city to be invaded and conquered by a foreign enemy.'
Democratic elected officials have called Trump's Los Angeles response a 'distraction,' eager to get back to hammering the Republicans over rising costs, proposed cuts to Medicaid and other slashes to the social safety net in the legislation.
But as Trump has escalated his tactics and rhetoric – widening deportations, sending more forces to California and casually threatening 'very heavy force' against those who protest his military parade in D.C. – many Democrats have embraced a fight.
Some hope the aggressiveness of his crackdown policies gives them a chance to chip away at the GOP's advantage on immigration. Trump's approval ratings on immigration continue to be higher than his marks on issues such as the economy, but they have dropped over the course of his second term, turning net-negative in multiple recent polls.
Some of the Democratic Party's most prominent voices have challenged Trump in stark terms, reflecting the pressure from the base to push back hard on him. Newsom, a potential White House hopeful who conspicuously reached out to MAGA leaders this year, attacked Trump's deportations this past week. He highlighted Trump's Thursday social media post acknowledging that farmers, a key Republican constituency, are complaining that his immigration crackdown is 'taking very good, long time workers away from them.'
'Turns out, chasing hard working people through ranches and farms and snatching women and children off the streets is not good policy,' Newsom wrote.
Rep. Stephen F. Lynch (D-Massachusetts) used especially strong language at a House Oversight Committee hearing on immigration on Thursday. He compared Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents' detention of one international student, who was grabbed off the street, to a 'Gestapo operation.'
'My dad served in the Second World War. He fought the Nazis in northern Africa, he fought the Nazis on the Italian Peninsula,' Lynch said in his opening statement, almost yelling at times. 'And I think he's looking down right now and he's happy that I'm fighting today's Nazis.'
Testifying at the hearing was Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D), a potential 2028 presidential candidate who has sought to go on the offensive on immigration. Pritzker devoted much of his speech at a Michigan Democratic Party dinner last weekend to the subject.
But Democrats spent much of the eight-hour hearing on the defensive, as Republicans grilled Pritzker and two other blue-state governors – Tim Walz of Minnesota and Kathy Hochul of New York – for hours about their states' handling of undocumented immigrants and made clear that the GOP continues to view immigration as a winning issue. The Republicans put up posters with mug shots of undocumented immigrants charged with violent crimes and, in their questioning, frequently mentioned specific cases.
'For today's Democrat Party, it seems unlimited illegal immigration and that agenda is being pushed at every level of government,' said Rep. James Comer (R-Kentucky), chairman of the committee, said in the hearing.
The governors sought to blunt Republican attacks by stressing that they support border security and the deportation of violent criminals. Democratic lawmakers displayed posters of headlines about U.S. citizen children deported by the Trump administration.
Some in the party see a welcome shift in the politics of immigration – an issue that Congress has for years been unable to tackle in a comprehensive way.
'A year ago, this was not a comfortable conversation among Democrats,' said Cecilia Muñoz, who served as an immigration adviser and director of the White House Domestic Policy Council under Barack Obama. 'And, I think, that is changing.'
When it comes to protests over immigration and other issues, many in the party are taking a cautious approach, wary of even isolated violence or rallying cries becoming a liability in future elections. The 2020 racial justice demonstrations that erupted after a White police officer killed George Floyd, an unarmed Black man, left many Democrats playing defense two years later, disavowing calls to strip funding from local police departments.
Many are appealing to angry protesters to stay peaceful, warning that any violence will play into Trump's hands. Some lawmakers, such as Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Maryland), are joining Saturday's 'No Kings' protests, which organizers designed to reject what they see as the authoritarian actions of the Trump administration. Others encouraged Americans to show up – with civility, they emphasized.
'I'm in this body because of civil rights activists who peacefully protested, suffrage leaders that peacefully protested, labor leaders that peacefully protested when presidents were doing things wrong,' said Sen. Cory Booker (D-New Jersey). 'This is one of those times I'm hoping more people will be speaking up in a peaceful way.'
Some issued blunter warnings as the situation in California escalated. 'My party loses the moral high ground when we refuse to condemn setting cars on fire, destroying buildings, and assaulting law enforcement,' Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) wrote on social media.
Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson, who has encouraged city residents to 'rise up' against Trump's crackdown on immigration, said he will 'absolutely' be in the streets protesting the enforcement raids.
Democrats have been especially unnerved by the administration's charges and threat of charges against liberal politicians. Last month, the Justice Department charged the Democratic mayor of Newark with trespassing over his attempt to visit a local immigration detention center; they quickly dropped the case, only to announce new charges against a congresswoman who was also there.
This past week, Trump floated arresting Newsom. And on Thursday, federal agents wrestled Padilla to the ground and forced him out of the room. Padilla said he was handcuffed but not arrested or detained; DHS spokeswoman Tricia McLaughlin said Secret Service agents 'thought he was an attacker.'
Republican leaders mostly blamed Padilla, with House Speaker Mike Johnson (Louisiana) calling the senator's actions 'wildly inappropriate.' Democrats, he said, are 'defending lawbreakers, and now they are acting like lawbreakers themselves.'
But Democratic officials were incensed. Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin said it 'sent a violent message to all of America.' Pritzker said in the Oversight Committee hearing that he 'cannot believe the disrespect that was shown to a United States senator.'
A crowd of House Democrats marched to the office of Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-South Dakota) in protest, but he wasn't there.
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