US to expand immigration crackdown despite backlash

Trump administration plans to target more workplaces, open new detention centres

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US President Donald Trump is preparing for a more aggressive immigration crackdown in 2026 with billions in new funding, including by raiding more workplaces, even as backlash builds ahead of the midterm elections.

Mr Trump has already sent immigration agents into major US cities, where they swept through neighbourhoods and clashed with residents.

While federal agents conducted some high-profile raids on businesses, they largely avoided raiding farms, factories and other businesses that are economically important but known to employ immigrants without legal status.

The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Border Patrol will get US$170 billion (S$220 billion) in additional funds through September 2029, a huge surge of funding over their existing annual budgets of about US$19 billion after the Republican-controlled Congress passed a massive spending package in July.

Administration officials say they plan to hire thousands more agents, open new detention centres, pick up more immigrants in local jails and partner outside companies to track down people without legal status.

The expanded deportation plans come despite growing signs of political backlash ahead of the midterm elections.

Florida’s Miami, one of the cities most affected by Mr Trump's crackdown because of its large immigrant population, elected its first Democratic mayor in nearly three decades last week in what the mayor-elect said was, in part, a reaction to the President.

Other local elections and polling have suggested rising concern among voters wary of aggressive immigration tactics.