Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images
PHOENIX – Top Trump administration officials this week reinforced their plans to execute mass deportations as a key strategy on immigration.
Speaking at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, Ariz., White House border czar Tom Homan praised the work of Border Patrol agents and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers over the last year and said the high number of arrests and deportations was expected to continue.
Immigration officers arrested more than half a million undocumented immigrants last year, according to officials speaking at the Expo, and are now making about 1,200 arrests a day; President Trump had campaigned on a promise of a million deportations a year.
“If you think last year’s historic number is good, wait till next year and we have 10,000 more agents on the border. You ain’t seen s*** yet,” Homan said in his opening remarks to kick off the Expo. “This year will be a good year. Mass deportations are coming.”
The remarks contrast with Homan’s softer messaging on immigration enforcement after two U.S. citizens were killed by Homeland Security officers during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis in January. Lawmakers from both parties called for the end of the crackdown in Minnesota — a drawdown that Homan led — and a change of leadership at the Department of Homeland Security.
Trump earlier this year promised “a little bit of a softer touch” on immigration and replaced Kristi Noem with former Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin as secretary of homeland security.
Polling at the start of the year showed declining public support for aggressive enforcement tactics against all immigrants who entered the country illegally, with more than half of respondents saying tactics had gone “too far.” At the same time, nearly three-quarters of Republicans approved of the job ICE was doing.
Homan’s comments this week suggest the administration’s focus on Trump’s campaign promises continues unabated.
“For the people out there saying President Trump’s weak on mass deportation, what the hell are you talking about?” Homan said. “President Trump made a promise to the American people that’s going to happen.”
He said deportations and arrests would prioritize anyone with a criminal background or seen as a security threat.
But “it doesn’t mean because you prioritize criminals, everybody else is off the table,” he said in Phoenix. “I’ve said no one’s off the table. Why is that? I don’t care how long you’ve been here. If you’re here illegally into this country, you cheated.”
While Mullin, the new DHS secretary, wasn’t at the event, Homan said the secretary shares his views.
Mullin recently said the agency is not losing focus but is being “more quiet” about its approach.
“We’re purposefully 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,” Mullin told Newsmax. He said that just on May 5 this week, the agency arrested over 1,900 people, and last week it deported 2,700 people.
“We haven’t missed a beat,” he said.
DOJ focus on denaturalizations
The Border Security Expo is an annual event that brings immigration officials together with private companies vying for federal government contracts, from massive drones and artificial intelligence to tactical gear. This year’s conference also drew involvement from other branches of government, including the Justice and Defense departments.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was the first attorney general to ever speak at the Expo. He had a message for attendees: federal law enforcement agencies are united in their mission of arresting and deporting people without legal status.
Blanche emphasized cross-agency collaboration between DOJ and DHS to investigate, arrest and prosecute undocumented immigrants. For his agency, he said denaturalizations and immigration courts were a priority.
“It doesn’t matter your badge. We had every federal agency focused on the mission of illegal immigration,” Blanche said. “We do not view this as mission accomplished. …We continue to view illegal immigration and border security as a top priority for the department.”
On denaturalizations, he said the agency is on track this month to surpass the total number of denaturalization cases from all four years of the Biden administration, which was 64.
Denaturalizations are rare and are meant to strip citizenship from those who may have lied about their criminal convictions or membership in illegal groups on their citizenship applications. The government has to prove its accusations in court.
“We are trying to protect the integrity of the naturalization process,” Blanche said.
Homan said he predicts more immigration enforcement in areas, like the state and city of New York, that restrict cooperation with federal law enforcement officials on immigration.
“You will see collateral arrests increase in these areas. You see more agents in your neighborhoods because you forced us in this position,” Homan said, speaking to the audience at the Expo.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) responded to Homan’s remarks on Wednesday.
“All I have to say to Tom Homan is, Donald Trump himself said he would not send a surge of ICE agents to the state of NY unless I ask,” Hochul said. “I’m not asking.”
Top DHS officials look to spend congressional money fast
Jaclyn Rubino, a DHS official overseeing how the department is spending congressional funding, said the agency by September is on track to obligate — or commit — 75% of the $191 billion it received from congressional Republicans last summer in a package dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill. She said that the agency is “frontloading” its spending, which was allocated for hiring personnel, increasing detention and office space, new technologies and more.
The funding has supported hiring more people and sharing data across federal agencies, in addition to other priorities.
Rubino noted that specific hiring goals across DHS, which included hiring 10,000 people at ICE and thousands more officers and agents at CBP, will have been met in the coming year and that every new hire will get any necessary equipment like cars, weapons and technology.
Officials pointed to the decrease in the number of people caught while trying to cross the U.S. border with Mexico as a sign of success.
Officials credited the drop in border crossings to the increase of arrests, detentions and deportations carried out by ICE, which conducts arrests inside the interior of the U.S., while Customs and Border Protection largely focuses on border areas.
“The cross-border flows dropped when ICE started making arrests,” said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott. “ICE’s role is critical to border security.” He noted that the recruitment pipeline is “full,” with 5,000 new border patrol agents being brought on in the coming months.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, who is retiring by the end of the month, said the agency was also hiring quickly, with 2,500 new attorneys to prosecute cases in immigration court, 11,000 deportation officers and 3,500 special agents.
Rubino noted that while hiring for law enforcement positions has been swift, other supporting roles have been tougher to recruit — especially with recent government shutdowns that have resulted in missed paychecks across the department.
Congress last week finally ended the longest agency shutdown in U.S. history, agreeing to fund most parts of DHS — but excluding some immigration enforcement functions. Republicans are separately looking at a partisan process known as reconciliation to fund all of DHS, including ICE and CBP, for the remainder of Trump’s term without any Democratic support.
“The mission support personnel are critical,” Rubino said, in reference to recruiters and technologists that are needed to recruit, hire, and onboard. “We’ve had some bumps in the past year of some of our ability to hire … Not sure it’s the most attractive place to go when you don’t have a paycheck for a very long time.”
