As Trump’s Approach to Immigration Enforcement Sees Results, Some Call It ‘Ludicrous’

This article was originally featured in the USAToday - Written by Matt Alderton Studio Gannett

Before he was elected to his first term, President Donald Trump made a promise: “I will build a great, great wall on our southern border. And I will have Mexico pay for that wall,” he said on June 16, 2015, moments after launching his presidential bid at Trump Tower in New York City.

In January 2021, the Trump White House declared it “a promise made, a promise kept” as the president celebrated the completion of over 400 miles of border wall. But Trump had vowed to build 1,000 miles of border wall, and only 85 of the 458 completed miles were new, according to the Politifact. The rest either replaced or reinforced existing barriers, and U.S. taxpayers — not Mexico — paid the bill.

When Trump announced he was running for a second term in November 2022, he made another promise: “We will begin the process of safely removing the illegal alien criminals that have been unlawfully allowed into our country,” he said, adding that he would “immediately launch a no-holds-barred national campaign” against undocumented immigrants accused of violent crimes and gang activity.

Seven months in, the administration is determined to keep that pledge.

Hours after he was inaugurated, Trump issued 10 executive orders and proclamations related to U.S. immigration law and policy, in which he characterized migration via the southern border as an “invasion” of the United States. Primarily as a result of the actions of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), illegal crossings at the southern border reached a record low in March, when U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) agents apprehended fewer than 7,200 unauthorized migrants. That’s a decline of 94% from March 2024, and DHS further reports that the number of migrants who “got away” from CBP agents is down 95%.

Immigration enforcement in the country’s interior also has been robust. During the administration’s first 100 days, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) reports that it arrested 66,463 undocumented immigrants and removed 65,682.

And yet, what’s perhaps more notable about immigration enforcement in the second Trump administration isn’t the results that DHS is reporting, but the methods by which it’s achieving them.

ICE Acting Director Todd M. Lyons describes those methods as a “whole-of-government” approach that encompasses “unprecedented partnerships” not only among DHS components like ICE, CBP and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) — whose agents have newly joined immigration enforcement operations, according to media reports — but also with the FBI, State Department, Drug Enforcement Administration, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, U.S. Marshals Service, IRS and U.S. Postal Service.

“It’s that whole-of-government approach, I think, that’s really keeping America safe,” Lyons says.

Targeting the ‘Worst of the Worst’

The Trump administration has set a goal to deport 1 million immigrants annually — a figure more than triple the previous record of 267,000 in 2019, according to the National Immigration Forum. Although he’s committed to achieving the president’s goal, Lyons says ICE is prioritizing removal of violent criminals. “We want to make sure that we’re using all of our resources first and foremost to focus on … public safety threats,” he says.

ICE Deputy Director Madison D. Sheahan says “What we’re doing every day (is) getting the worst of the worst out of the community so the American people can be safe in their own homes … We’re looking at gang members. We’re looking at child smugglers. We’re looking at murderers — anybody that you would … not want in your community because they are violent people.”

By the administration’s own admission, however, many migrants deported since the start of the president’s second term have no criminal record at all.

“The idea that they’re solely focused on ‘criminals’ … is ludicrous,” says Jorge Loweree, managing director of programs and strategy at the American Immigration Council, a pro-immigration advocacy group. “The administration is doing everything that they possibly can to redefine what it means to be a criminal.”

While he maintains that violent criminals remain ICE’s top priority, Lyons says that all undocumented immigrants are, in the strictest terms, criminals. “If we come across someone that’s violated immigration law, it’s still a crime to be in the U.S. illegally. So, we’re going to take that action,” he says.

In at least some cases, however, the administration is targeting people who aren’t undocumented at all, says Javier Palomarez, founder and CEO of the United States Hispanic Business Council.

“On the one hand … the administration (has) deported thousands of convicted criminals, dozens of known or suspected terrorists, and over 1,000 criminal gang members, including members of cartels and the violent MS-13 and Tren de Aragua gangs,” Palomarez says. “On the other hand, there are many law-abiding and long-contributing members of our communities and society who have been caught up in these deportations. Some of which are undocumented. Others have temporary protected status. Others have visas. And some have flat-out been in our nation legally. These individuals have either been accidentally temporarily detained, have had their visas or status revoked, have been threatened to have their temporary protected status revoked or have been actually deported alongside violent criminals.”

Team Approach

Some immigration advocates have accused the Trump administration of denying immigrants their legal rights, but Sheahan says “ICE ensures illegal aliens receive due process” by working hand-in-glove with immigration courts. “ICE will not execute removal until … a final order of removal is issued” by an immigration judge, she says.

Because ICE agents are law enforcement officers, their primary remit is arrests, Lyons echoes. That’s where DHS’s “whole-of-government” approach to immigration enforcement is paying big dividends, he says.

“The sharing of resources … has been a great game-changer,” says Lyons, who says federal partners are sharing data, intelligence and manpower with ICE, CBP and other DHS components. In March, for example, Reuters reported that approximately 80% of ATF’s 2,500 agents had been ordered to take on at least some immigration enforcement work, including locating undocumented immigrants. About 25% of DEA agents have similarly been tasked with immigration enforcement missions, Reuters noted.

Although deputized officers from outside CBP and ICE typically have no immigration enforcement experience, Lyons says they receive ample training that includes education about immigration laws and the humane treatment of detainees. “We would never put anyone — especially from another agency — in a predicament that would be unsafe or legally challenging,” he says.

Also joining ICE in the field are local and state police from across the country, many of whom have been deputized as part of the 287(g) program that allows DHS to enter into voluntary agreements with state and local law enforcement agencies for the purpose of carrying out federal immigration enforcement. As of mid-June, ICE had 649 memorandums of agreement covering law-enforcement agencies in 40 states.

“The 287(g) program has really been revamped under President Trump,” says Sheahan, who calls the program a “force multiplier” for ICE. “We’re able to use that … to be able to have historic success.”

Emblematic of that collaboration are events like Operation Tidal Wave, a first-of-its-kind statewide immigration sweep during which law enforcement officers arrested 1,120 undocumented immigrants in Florida, nearly two-thirds of whom had prior criminal records. Among those who participated in the operation alongside ICE, CBP and HSI were the FBI, DEA, ATF, the U.S. Marshals Service, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Florida National Guard, Florida Division of Emergency Management and 13 local Florida sheriff’s offices.

Removals or Reform?

Lyons says immigration enforcement at its current scale will empower ICE to “remove some pretty bad, significant public safety threats.” What worries Palomarez, however, is what it might remove from the U.S. economy.

“Mass deportations without economic foresight could become a self-inflicted wound on the very nation President Trump has fought to defend,” he says, emphasizing the need for comprehensive immigration reforms that create legal pathways for undocumented migrants to work temporarily in the United States. The United States Hispanic Business Council, for example, has proposed a “Temporary Residence for Undocumented Migrant Professionals (TRUMP) Visa” that would allow working immigrants to remain in, or enter, the country under strict vetting on a temporary status.

“It would open the door for qualified foreign labor to legally enter sectors like agriculture, construction, hospitality, manufacturing and health care, where the labor shortage has become a national crisis,” Palomarez says.

For his part, Lyons says he welcomes reform. “I would much rather have a constructive conversation about how we can change immigration law and how we can make our immigration system better than … all of the vilifying of ICE officers or our mission,” he says. “I would rather focus on working together with a lot of the critics.”