Rep. Mike Lawler is taking an unusual political gamble, attacking Democrats over sanctuary policies while also criticizing the Trump administration’s aggressive immigration enforcement tactics.
Lawler represents a suburban Hudson Valley district that Kamala Harris carried in 2024, making his path to a third term anything but straightforward in the current political climate.
His Democratic opponent, Cait Conley, is an Army veteran and first-time candidate whose race against Lawler is widely seen as a potential factor in determining control of the House.
Lawler has staked out what he calls a “common sense” position on immigration, one that distances him from both progressive sanctuary policies and the more hardline tactics of the Trump administration.
At a recent candidate forum, Lawler named specific victims on both sides of the immigration enforcement debate to illustrate his argument about the human cost of policy failures.
“Renee Good and Alex Pretti should not be dead. But neither should Sheridan Gorman, and neither should Laken Riley, and neither should the thousands of people who have been murdered by people who are in our country illegally and committing crimes,” Lawler said.
He continued, making his overall position clear: “So yes, ICE needs reforms, but you know what? Sanctuary jurisdictions should not exist. Criminals should be deported.”
Lawler has backed his messaging with paid media on immigration and has held multiple events specifically targeting Democratic immigration policies in recent weeks.
In a recent interview with a panel of local reporters, Lawler even raised the subject himself when it had not come up, saying, “We did not touch on immigration, and I want to raise this because this is a real problem.”
Immigration proved to be a powerful electoral weapon for Republicans in recent cycles, but widespread dissatisfaction with President Donald Trump’s enforcement tactics has made it a far less predictable advantage heading into this race.
Lawler appears undeterred, continuing to press the issue aggressively even as the broader political landscape around it has grown more complicated for his party.
“Fundamentally, when you look at the challenge, I think most people want common sense, not extremism, on the issue of immigration,” Lawler said in the same interview with local reporters.
His strategy reflects a broader tension within the Republican Party between embracing Trump-era immigration policies and appealing to moderate suburban voters who have shown unease with some of the administration’s more aggressive tactics.
Whether Lawler’s positioning resonates with voters in his competitive district will likely serve as an important indicator of how suburban electorates respond to immigration messaging in the 2026 midterm cycle.
