White House Tells House Republicans To Stop Talking About ‘Mass Deportation’
White House officials are urging House Republicans to avoid talking about “mass deportations” ahead of the midterm elections, and instead focus on deporting violent criminals.
It’s a stark change from President Trump’s 2024 campaign message, where signs at the Republican National Convention read “Mass Deportation Now.” Trump had campaigned on launching the largest deportation program in U.S. history.
BEHIND THE CHANGE
Last week, as Republican members of Congress gathered for a retreat in Florida, White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair and Rep. Lisa McClain (R-MI) urged lawmakers to change their messaging on immigration, Axios reported.
The shift follows the killing of two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis and accusations that agents are prioritizing arrest quotas instead of targeting serious criminals. There’s also pushback from the courts about a lack of oversight and potential constitutional violations. Polling suggests public frustration is growing.
A Washington Post–ABC News–Ipsos poll from last month found 58% of Americans say the Trump administration’s deportation strategy has gone too far — eight points higher than last fall.
Politico polling from January found that 1 in 5 Trump voters called his mass deportation campaign too aggressive.
The same Washington Post poll found that 62% opposed the aggressive tactics of ICE after immigration officials fatally shot two U.S. citizens in Minneapolis earlier this year.
While Democrats were much more likely to say they oppose ICE tactics than Republicans, so did about a quarter of Republicans.
At the same time, the poll found that two-thirds of self-described MAGA supporters were satisfied with immigration enforcement policies, and 21% said they think the Trump administration has not been aggressive enough.
There are complaints among some MAGA supporters on social media that the White House's walk-back on mass deportation is an abandonment of Trump’s campaign promise. Translation: Republicans have the challenge of appealing to their base GOP voters while also trying to tone down their language to win back independents.
Asked last month about deporting otherwise law-abiding undocumented immigrants, Trump told The Washington Post he wants “everybody” deported, “but we’re focusing on the criminals. We’re focusing on killers.”
STATE OF DEPORTATIONS
The Department of Homeland Security said nearly 3 million undocumented migrants left the U.S. in Trump’s first year back in office, including about 2.2 million self-deportations and more than 675,000 deportations.