Will a blue wave cool off ICE?

By the time this piece is published, the US midterm elections shall have been in the rearview mirror, except for the residual vote counting in some jurisdictions.

In the US, the two major political parties — the Democratic Party and the Republican Party — are symbolically represented by blue and red colors, respectively, which happen to be the dominant hues of the American flag.

In political bafflegab, therefore, a blue wave means an exceptionally strong electoral performance by the Democrats, while a red wave pertains to the Republican Party’s dominant victory at the polls.

As noted in a previous column, the prevailing political headwinds point to the Democrats gaining control of the US House of Representatives, and presumably the US Senate as well.

Based on this projection, this corner believes the only potential impact worth rooting for, assuming a resounding victory for the Democrats, is for the immigration authorities to dial down their aggressive enforcement tactics to avoid incurring the newly empowered Democrats’ ire.

In the same vein, this corner is also predicting an avalanche of congressional hearings where officials of various immigration-related agencies, including Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), will be grilled ferociously by Democratic lawmakers on the deadly enforcement incidents of the past, which could potentially bring about a temporary letup in enforcement intensity while administration officials assess the long-term fallout from the party’s electoral defeats.

As a caveat, however, this corner also surmises that given the Republican president’s propensity for exhibiting bullheadedness, it remains highly likely that this administration’s ultra-strict immigration policy will continue, at least through the remainder of its term.

Going back to the basic question, will a blue wave cool off ICE?

It depends.

If the Democrats’ victory rises to the level of a tsunami, meaning both chambers of the US Congress fall into the hands of Democrats in an overwhelmingly dominant fashion, there is a strong possibility that a Democratic-led Congress, with its newly minted contempt and impeachment powers, will project a strong enough image resembling an angry Sun God looking to emasculate or cool off, even melt, a cold-hearted agency like ICE.

For example, will the threat of impeaching the Cabinet-level head of ICE’s parent agency do the trick?

If not, perhaps the specter of endless hearings and boatloads of subpoenas against ICE officials, along with the risk of potential referrals for criminal prosecution and/or administrative investigation, may move the needle away from the claw of stone-cold barbarism.

Who knows, perhaps a Democratic-controlled Congress, with its supersized majorities in both chambers, may attempt to pass a number of reactive measures to neutralize, even eviscerate, the horrendous enforcement tactics being deployed by the Trump administration through ICE.

Of course, a feeble Democratic Party victory — which remains a possibility given the historical trends of Republican candidates outperforming pre-election polling — will further embolden the current administration and its ICE enforcers to continue with their gung-ho ways.

If that were to happen, the only thing that anyone can do, including those American citizens impacted by the turbocharged denaturalization campaign, is to wait out the end of the current presidency and hope for an immigrant-friendly leader to occupy the White House come January 2029.

Yearning for a fantasy? Or a glimpse of a future reality? Only the all-seeing ICE would know.