What Happened to Mass Deportation?

As a cornerstone of the 2024 campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly promised the mass deportation of people in the country illegally. He discussed this issue in almost every speech, telling his supporters that besides the alien criminals, rapists, and people from mental institutions, we couldn’t afford to shoulder the burden of 25 million illegal aliens. He repeatedly referenced a 1950s effort by President Dwight Eisenhower that resulted in the deportation of over a million illegals in three months as a model for the mass effort he would undertake if elected.

Yet, it seems like no one in the current administration, including Trump, wants to talk about mass deportation any more.

It’s all about Criminal Aliens

In a distinct shift from the President’s campaign rhetoric, a January 26, 2025 press release from the Department of Homeland Security claims that 70% of ICE arrests are criminal illegal aliens who have been convicted or charged with a violent crime in the U.S. This theme is repeated in virtually every press conference and press release.

Talk of mass deportation has become nonexistent, and maybe it wasn’t ever real to begin with. According to DHS, there were 670,000 alien removals in 11 months during 2025. By contrast, the Eisenhower administration removed an estimated 1.1 million during the summer of 1954. Remember, the illegal alien population was only an estimated two million in the ‘50s as opposed to 25 million now. It was much harder to find an illegal alien back then, yet Eisenhower found a way to deport them swiftly and effectively.

Homan Over Bovino

 You may not have noticed, but the boiling pot in Minnesota has cooled down considerably. When was the last time you heard of a protest in Minneapolis? It’s been nothing but crickets for several weeks

Why?

There is no question the President’s decision to send immigration czar Tom Homan to Minnesota and remove Greg Bovino, who was previously in charge, has lowered the temperature considerably.

But a surrender to woke leftists only brings a temporary calm before they manufacture their next crisis. We’ve watched this pattern repeat itself endlessly over the last several decades

Bovino was Trump’s boots on the ground commander in Democrat-cities, and apparently, he resisted efforts to focus Border Patrol and ICE on “targeted” efforts instead of mass sweeps. As a result, he was effectively demoted and sent back to his previous post at the border in Southern California. Similarly, the influence of DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and Corey Lewandowski, an unpaid special government employee working closely with Noem, has been diminished by all accounts. It’s not a coincidence that both favor aggressive actions to remove all illegal aliens, regardless of whether they have a criminal history or not.

However, mass deportation no longer seems to be the Trump administration’s priority.

The Suicide Martyrs Accomplish Their Mission

Over the course of two weeks, woke leftists unleashed their most potent weapon to date, suicide martyrs. We’re familiar with this tactic because we’ve seen how effective it is when jihadists blow themselves up in Israel, but this is a uniquely American version.

You think I’m exaggerating? Who in their right mind shows up and interferes with a law enforcement operation, disobeys direct orders from the officers, and then plows their vehicle into one of them in Renee Good’s case, or comes with a loaded gun and a couple magazines of ammunition and then fights with law enforcement as Alex Pretti did?

Obviously, you would know in advance the likelihood of the worst possible outcome was very high. Still, the pressure this exerted on Trump to back down was enormous, and it appears he is abandoning one of the key issues he ran on.

Trump Surrenders in Minnesota

Most recently, Homan announced the end of major ICE operations in Minnesota. He claims that because of “unprecedented cooperation” from local law enforcement, the agents could be assigned elsewhere. This “cooperation” stems from counties purportedly allowing ICE to take custody of criminal aliens before they hit the streets. Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey denies any such agreement was ever made.

If this sounds like a surrender, I agree with you.

But let’s say Homan is right, and the locals are now turning over the criminal aliens to ICE. What about the illegals who aren’t in jail? What’s the plan for them? If the percentage of arrested illegal aliens with no violent criminal history has dropped from 70% to 30% since Homan arrived, it means there is no emphasis on mass deportation at all. Explain that, Tom Homan, and then give us hard numbers on the number of non-criminal aliens you are still arresting. My guess is that in Minnesota, it’s zero.

Republicans Cave on Virtually Everything of Importance

We are reaching the midterms at warp speed, and it seems like we’re living Groundhog Day the movie because this cycle feels identical to 2016-2018, when the Republicans controlled all three branches of government and got nothing significant accomplished.

Government waste, fraud and abuse? We lost, and Elon got his dealerships firebombed for his trouble.

Repeal of Blue Slip to block Trump nominees? Nope, we can’t repeal that because that would violate Senate tradition. But let Republicans try the same stalling tactic when the Democrats are in charge and watch how fast it’s ended.

Election reform? You already know the SAVE Act doesn’t stand a snowball’s chance.

Prosecuting the perpetrators of the silent coup and other Democrat scandals? Give me the name of one Democrat who went to prison for it. I’m waiting…

And now we’re caving to radical woke leftists on immigration because they went to the nuclear option and unleashed suicide martyrs on America.

I hope you’re as disgusted and outraged with all of this as I am.