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By Janet Murguía and Bob Worsley
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The election results sent an unmistakable message: The immigration debate has shifted and Americans resoundingly reject the disruptions caused by mass deportations, demanding solutions that lower prices and protect communities.
We rarely agree on everything. One of us is a conservative entrepreneur and former Arizona Republican state senator; the other leads the nation’s largest Latino civil rights organization. Yet we agree that our nation’s voters, from Latinos in South Texas to suburban women in Pennsylvania, sent a loud, clear message. The cruelty of masked agents destroying the families of long-term immigrants through indiscriminate deportations is unacceptable.
It is time for both Republicans and Democrats to work together and stop the 20-year stalemate on immigration policy solutions. If the take-home message of the 2024 elections was that our voters want safe and controlled borders, then the take-home message on November 3 was that voters also demand humane, bipartisan solutions for the long-term contributing immigrants who harvest our food, build our homes and power our economy.
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Rather than relitigating 2013 “comprehensive immigration reform” debates, Washington must deliver immediate, actionable policy. Congress should start by holding lame-duck votes on pending, common-sense bipartisan proposals. The American people overwhelmingly support measures like the Dream and Promise Act, which provides long-term certainty for the young persons brought here as minors by their parents and the immigrants who worked here legally for years after leaving zones of war and climate disaster. There are serious pending proposals that address the future of long-term undocumented workers, farmworkers and the undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens.
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Both parties are learning the exact same lesson: Latino and everyday moderate voters are guaranteed to no one. They shift their support when politicians fail to deliver on economic security and immigration. White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller’s extreme enforcement agenda bears full blame for recent Republican losses at the ballot box. Indiscriminate raids and work permit revocations triggered supply-chain shocks and inflation on steroids, driving key voters away. The indiscriminate deportations and resulting spike in prices created a fierce backlash among Hispanics who supported President Donald Trump in 2024, and a repudiation by independent and rural voters who traditionally voted Republican. Red states that shifted to Democrats include Texas, Kansas, Iowa, Ohio and South Carolina. Texas’ Rio Grande Valley saw a 46 percent shift among Hispanics to Democrats; and Western Kansas saw a 50 percent shift among Hispanics to Democrats.
For Democrats, this outcome is both an opportunity and a stern warning: Latino voters rejected mass deportation chaos in 2026 just as they rejected border chaos in 2024. They expect fast action, not lip service. The temptation for Democrats will be to only make changes in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) tactics, such as body cameras and warrants, while at the same time giving unachievable promises of reform only after they take the White House in 2028.
Democrats can also easily make the mistake of believing that the nation can address the “affordability crisis” without an immigrant workforce. Immigrants keep businesses running and consumer prices down. While politicians talk about tariffs, aggressive enforcement against long-standing workers drove basic expenses to record highs over the last two years: lettuce up 32.1 percent, whole milk up 9 percent, housing rose 15 percent in the Northeast and senior care surged 17 percent.
The path forward is clear. The politics of immigration have been stuck in blame, gamesmanship and maneuvering for partisan political advantage. But the past 25 years and Tuesday’s election make it clear that neither party can impose its vision of immigration solutions on the other through unilateral executive or legislative action.
Starting with immediate action in the lame-duck session, President Trump and Congress must act now to pass a bipartisan immigration compromise and lower prices for every American family.
Janet Murguía is the president and CEO of UnidosUS, previously known as NCLR (National Council of La Raza), the nation’s largest Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization. Bob Worsley is founder of SkyMall, former Republican senator and chairman of the American Business Immigration Coalition representing 2,200 CEOs.
The views expressed in this article are the writers' own.
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