Trump Administration Not Slowing Down on Mass Deportations

Trump administration officials say it is not slowing down on its mandate of mass deportations of illegal aliens. White House Border Czar Tom Homan spoke to Department of Homeland Security officials and industry insiders at the May 5 Border Security Expo in Phoenix.

“You ain’t seen [expletive] yet…This year will be a good year. Mass deportations are coming,” he said, as reported by CNN, who called his comments “defiant.”

Homan’s remarks appear to respond to recently enacted resolutions by Pima County and the city of Phoenix that restrict federal agents from enforcing immigration laws on county or city property. Pima County allows the use of physical barriers, like fences, to block ICE agents and further requires federal immigration officers to obtain judicial warrants prior to their enforcement efforts.

Mass Deportations Not Slowing Down

Republican leadership has not responded directly to Homan’s statements in Phoenix, but they remain broadly in support of the president’s crackdown on illegal immigration. Newly confirmed DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin pushed back on criticism the department is prioritizing only criminal illegal immigrants. Mullin told Rob Schmitt Tonight on Newsmax:

"We're staying focused on all illegals, without question…Truth is we are purposely trying to be a little bit more quiet. I made this very clear when we were moving forward with my nomination that I wanted to get DHS out of the headlines so our ICE agents, our CPB agents and all the other law enforcement agents under DSH could go do their job without being harassed by the media. That doesn't mean we're slowing down even a little bit. In fact, just yesterday, we arrested more than 1,900 individuals. We have over 60,000 individuals that are currently being detained, going through the process of being deported.”

Homan spoke to The Will Cain Show on FOX a day later:

“We’re going to continue to surge resources, especially to sanctuary cities, because we know we have a problem there. So, I expect the numbers to increase while the border numbers continue to decrease…And as for the president, priority is a public safety threat, of course, because they’re the biggest danger to the community, of course. But anyone in this country illegally, we’re looking for them. We’re gonna arrest them and deport them.”

Federal records show ICE is deploying 330 agents to 42 states and Puerto Rico, including towns as small as Concho, Arizona; Crawford, Maine; and Savage, Montana.

For his part, President Trump mentions how his administration has brought illegal crossings to zero and secured the strongest border in US history, at nearly every opportunity, including addressing mothers at White House event honoring mothers on Friday.

Have the Polls Changed?

One of the top issues that influenced Americans in the 2024 presidential election was remedying the open border and mass migration – arguably illegally and unvetted. A Gallup poll conducted between September 16-28, 2024 found that 72% of American registered voters said the candidate’s position on immigration was “extremely important” or “very important” in influencing their vote for president. A Pew Research Poll taken August 5–11, 2024, found that 88% of Trump supporters and 56% of all voters supported mass deportations of immigrants living in the US illegally.

More recent polling shows the majority of Americans still support mass deportations. The Immigration Accountability Project conducted a poll of 2,000 likely voters between February 27 and March 3 of this year. It found that 66.1% of all respondents and 57.3% of Hispanic respondents support the US government’s immediate deportation of more than 1.6 million illegal migrants still in the US, despite a federal judge issuing them final orders of deportation. More than 82% of respondents and 77.3% of Hispanic respondents agreed that “immigration policy should serve the interests of American citizens."

What Comes Next?

In the interview with Will Cain, Homan said it would take deporting well over 20 million to return the US to a country of legal citizens. When asked to respond to criticism that the task to deport 20 million people is a logistic impossibility, Homan remained undeterred.

“I’ll give it one hell of a shot,” Homan said. “Bottom line is we’re not going to give up on the President Trump’s promise to the American people about mass deportations.”

But a new coalition called the Mass Deportation Coalition formed in February. It released a playbook on March 30, calling for the Trump administration to move from phase one of enforcing immigration law on the “worst of the worst,” to phase two of mass deportations.

The Mass Deportation Coalition says: “The operational environment must open its ‘prioritization aperture.’" Its Playbook outlines 21 recommendations as an operational framework to deport at least one million illegal aliens in 2026. The playbook includes: “substantially enhancing worksite enforcement,” moving the employment verification process online, debanking illegal aliens, dramatically expanding immigration detention and enforcing the alien registration requirements through criminal prosecutions.

The Heritage Foundation is praising the initiative: “With at least 20 million deportable aliens in the U.S., America needs mass deportations for national and economic security. President Trump campaigned and won on mass deportations,” Lora Ries, director of the Border Security and Immigration Center said. “Americans still overwhelmingly support them. It is time to go on offense again, apply consequences for illegal immigration, fraud, and unauthorized work, and return American students and employees to a level playing field.”

The mainstream media is homing in on the Mass Deportation Coalition as a sign of trouble in MAGA world. Trump officials speaking out this week have not made statements about the coalition by name but seem to address many of the coalition’s concerns. With a reset under Secretary Mullin and the 76-day government shutdown in the rear view, though, the president's message isn’t crumbling to the mainstream media criticism.