A newspaper owned by Rupert Murdoch has issued a stark warning to President Donald Trump after a high-profile Republican loss.
In a new editorial, The Wall Street Journal warned Trump that a hard-line immigration strategy promoted by top adviser Stephen Miller is fueling voter backlash.
It comes after a Trump-backed candidate for Texas state senate lost to a Democrat over the weekend.
“How does a Republican lose by 14 points in a safe Texas Senate seat that President Trump held by 17 points in 2024? Answer: When there’s a voter backlash against the Trump Administration, especially the mass deportation disaster,” the Journal wrote, describing the Tarrant County special election.
Democrat Taylor Rehmet, a veteran union leader, easily defeated Republican Leigh Wambsganss, who had Trump’s support for Social Truth and outspent his opponent.
Rehment is the first Democrat to hold the seat in decades.
The newspaper noted that the timing was disastrous for Republicans, coming after the high-profile killings in Minneapolis by federal immigration agents. “The 31-point swing in the vote in little more than 14 months can only be explained as part of a rising tide of opposition to Mr. Trump’s first year and a sour public mood,” the Journal observed.
A sign is held up in support of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at a candlelight vigil during a peaceful protest in support of a 37-year-old man shot and killed by immigration officers in Minneapolis Saturday night along Olvera Street in Los Angeles. / Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The White House has faced a growing national backlash after federal immigration agents fatally shot two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis — Renee Good in early January and Alex Pretti late that month — as part of aggressive law enforcement operations in the state.
Both cases have sparked controversy over conflicting official narratives. In Pretti’s case, Homeland Security officials and White House advisers initially claimed he approached agents with a gun and posed a threat, while bystander videos show him holding only a cell phone before he was apprehended and shot.
Similarly, authorities initially suggested that Good tried to hit the agents with her vehicle before she was fatally shot, a claim contradicted by footage and eyewitness reports. Critics say those early statements painted both victims as dangerous to justify the shootings, fueling accusations that the administration misrepresented the events.
The killings came after Trump deployed thousands of federal immigration agents to Minneapolis as part of an aggressive immigration strategy masterminded by Miller.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller (R) and US Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem arrive to attend the wedding of White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino and Erin Elmore. / SAUL LOEB / AFP via Getty Images
Miller’s immigration strategy under Trump has resulted in aggressive mass arrests and deportations, with ICE agents expected to meet high daily quotas, targeting even non-criminal undocumented immigrants.
The Wall Street Journal has criticized Miller’s tough tactics, including a daily quota of 3,000 migrant arrests that it says “would be bound to result in agents breaking into homes and businesses.”
While immigration has historically been a winning issue for Republicans, the Journal warned that law enforcement “turning ugly in the streets alienates voters who will determine who wins this year’s congressional race.”
Polls have recently shown that Americans are turning against Trump and his immigration strategy ahead of the 2026 midterms. A YouGov poll conducted on January 25 found that about half (48 percent) of respondents do not believe the shooting of Pretti in Minneapolis was justified.
Another YouGov poll found that 52% of Americans believe the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict immigration to the US have gone too far.
As a result, the paper concluded that even as Trump signals a desire to “reduce street confrontations,” he also needs to reconsider Miller’s influence. “Miller’s strategy is not likely to fare any better this year,” the editorial warned.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump (R) speaks with media mogul Rupert Murdoch as he leaves the Trump International Golf Links in Aberdeen, Scotland June 25, 2016. REUTERS/Carlo Allegri/Carlo Allegri/REUTERS
The Wall Street Journal is not the first Murdoch-owned newspaper to publicly condemn Trump’s immigration strategy.
In an op-ed published last week, the New York Post argued that the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement in Minneapolis is politically backwards.
“These law enforcement tactics won’t turn the tide, they’re back,” the Post wrote.