Trump Administration Tries To Shore Up Its Footing With Immigration Hardliners

Top Trump administration officials this week promised a “historic mass deportation,” part of a media blitz to beat back right-wing criticism that the White House has wavered on President Donald Trump’s immigration agenda.

In media appearances, Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin and border czar Tom Homan promised large-scale deportations, argued that ICE isn’t “slowing down” and said the administration would crack down on sanctuary cities that refused to comply with federal immigration enforcement. It marks a return to a more aggressive posture after months of softened rhetoric as public sentiment on immigration shifted against the White House.

People close to the administration and immigration hawks view the public relations campaign as an attempt to appeal to Trump’s aggrieved MAGA base, which has complained in recent months that the White House isn’t doing enough to remove millions of unauthorized immigrants, a core Trump campaign pledge. The issue has become a political tightrope for the Trump administration, caught between some Republicans who worry the president’s immigration agenda has gone too far — especially after federal immigration agents killed two Americans in Minneapolis this year — and hardliners who warn that backing down could alienate MAGA voters ahead of midterms.

Homan and Mullin argue the deportation goals haven’t shifted, but they’ve said the administration is taking a “smarter” approach and have emphasized the focus on deporting the “worst of the worst” criminal unauthorized immigrants. That language frustrates hardliners who say the administration must target a broader pool of immigrants.

“It’s political rhetoric designed to meet both camps,” said a person close to the administration granted anonymity to describe the effort. “Which is no surprise, it’s a political administration trying to win midterms.”

The White House insists that critics who say the administration’s deportations campaign isn’t moving fast enough are “misguided.” A senior White House official said Homan was reiterating that the “mission still remains.”

“There’s a lot of sort of outside voices who say we’ve stopped all deportations, we’ve stopped all border security,” said the official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly about the administration’s strategy. “That’s just not true. It may not necessarily be in the news right now but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening.”

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said “nobody is changing” the president’s immigration enforcement agenda, and said the administration’s top priority has been to deport “illegal alien criminals.” She also touted the deportation of immigrants who have committed crimes and self-deportations of unauthorized immigrants, as well as the president’s success in securing the border.

In March, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked about concerns that the administration had shifted its deportation posture.

“While there of course has been a change in leadership at the Department of Homeland Security,” Leavitt said referring to the departure of former Secretary Kristi Noem, “I can assure the American people that there has not been a change in policy. It has always been the policy of this president and this administration to deport the worst of the worst illegal alien criminals from our communities.”

In a statement, a DHS official trumpeted that more than 3 million unauthorized immigrants have left the United States or been deported since Trump took office and reiterated that “ICE has NOT slowed down.”

“Since Day One, DHS law enforcement has been delivering on President Trump’s promise to the American people to arrest and deport criminal illegal aliens including murderers, rapists, pedophiles, gang members and terrorists,” the DHS official said. “We will continue to deliver on the president’s promise to make America safe again.”

The move comes as the administration has taken actions to respond to conservative critics on a range of issues. Administration officials met last month with Make America Healthy Again advocates who were upset over the administration’s recent order boosting domestic glyphosate production in defiance of MAHA’s wishes and hosted podcaster Joe Rogan for an Oval Office event after he spoke on his podcast to a growing cohort of young MAGA loyalists who feel betrayed by Trump’s choice to reignite tensions with Iran.

In media interviews this week, Mullin and Homan acknowledged that the administration's approach has shifted from aggressive and flashy tactics that were a regular feature of its immigration crackdown in blue cities earlier this year. But they also contended that the goal of deporting unauthorized migrants in large numbers remains.

“We had a historic illegal immigration crisis for four years. So what’s required now? A historic mass deportation,” Homan said in an interview Tuesday with CBS News on the sidelines of the Border Security Forum conference in Phoenix. In another appearance at the conference, the border czar said he spoke with Mullin about their strategy for the next couple of months, telling the audience that critics were just “keyboard warriors” who “don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”

“You ain’t seen shit yet,” Homan said. “Mass deportations are coming.”

Mullin, for his part, also defended the approach, telling Newsmax on Tuesday night, “we haven’t missed a beat. We’re still on track — pushing as hard as we can. We just are doing it in a different way by using local law enforcement to work with us.”

Those interviews have done little to sate immigration hawks. Many see the recent messaging shift as merely efforts to save face after hardliners took issue with the more measured approach from Mullin and other White House officials — as well as what view as unimpressive annual deportation numbers that fall well below the president’s promise of millions.

“Knocking door to door, and looking just for the worst of the worst and things like that, you’re not going to be able to ramp up the numbers,” said a second person close to the administration, granted anonymity to speak candidly about the sentiments among immigration hawks. “I get the sense that they’re trying to have their cake and eat it, too.”

Since taking over at DHS, Mullin has introduced a number of changes that have raised alarm among Trump allies, including a pause on mega-warehouse detention plans designed to ramp up the nation’s detention capacity. They’re also wary of White House meetings Trump officials have held with industry groups and lawmakers advocating for limiting worksite enforcement — what hardliners view as the only way to get annual deportation numbers from a few hundred thousand to the 1 million-plus.

Mark Krikorian, who leads the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank in Washington which favors restrictions on legal immigration, said immigration hardliners’ need for “reassurances” is natural given what they’ve seen as past betrayals from Republican administrations.

“There’s a worry with Republican politicians that they’re going to talk a big game on enforcement and not follow through,” Krikorian said. “Immigration hawks have been lied to by Republican politicians for years and decades, so it’s justified that they want reassurances.”