Trump faces new pressure on mass deportations as Republicans weigh
Homeland Security nominee
[March 17, 2026]
By LISA MASCARO, REBECCA SANTANA and JOEY CAPPELLETTI
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Department of Homeland Security will soon be under
new management, an opportunity to reset President Donald Trump’s
immigration agenda or to double down on his signature campaign promise
to conduct the largest deportation operation in American history.
The White House's political director recently encouraged party lawmakers
during a retreat at the Republican president’s golf club in Florida to
focus on immigration enforcement against criminals, a pivot from the
mass deportation agenda he ran on. House Speaker Mike Johnson said the
aggressive operations have created a “hiccup” for the party, which is
now embarking on a “course correction.”
Yet all indications are that Trump’s mass deportation operation is not
stalling out but intensifying, with billions of dollars being spent to
hire Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, build warehouse
detention sites and meet the administration’s goal of rounding up and
removing some 1 million immigrants from the U.S. this year.
“We are at an interesting moment where it has been an inflection point —
the public has finally seen what mass detention and mass deportation
mean," said Sarah Mehta, who tracks the issue at the American Civil
Liberties Union.
"This is not an agency that’s slowing down,” she said. “They’re really
going forward with some of the cruelest policies.”
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the president's policies
have sent immigrants out of the U.S., either through forced deportations
or on their own, and sealed up the U.S.-Mexico border.
“Nobody is changing the administration’s immigration enforcement
agenda,” she said.
Senators ready to grill Trump's DHS nominee over deportations
The questions put Homeland Security at a crossroads. Secretary Kristi
Noem is on her way out, and Trump’s nominee to replace her, Sen.
Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, appears this week for Senate confirmation
hearings.
After the intense deportation sweeps in Minneapolis and other cities —
and the deaths of at least three U.S. citizens at the hands of officers
— Democratic lawmakers are refusing to provide routine funding unless
the department changes its policies.
At the same time, those who believe Trump won the White House with his
mass deportation agenda are disappointed the administration did not
achieve its goals last year and insist he must do better.
“There has been a lot of talk in Congress and now in the White House
about kind of backing away from President Trump’s, candidate Trump's,
mass deportation promise,” said Rosemary Jenks, co-founder of the
Immigration Accountability Project, which argues for deportations.
“We believe that now is an opportunity,” she said. “We've got to get the
deportation numbers up.”
A nation of immigrants no longer?
The debate is playing out as the United States, celebrating its 250th
year, squares its founding as a nation of immigrants with images of
masked federal agents breaking car windows and detaining people
suspected of being in the U.S. without proper legal standing.
The Congress, controlled by Republicans, provided some $170 billion in
last year's tax cuts bill to fuel the effort, more than tripling the
budget of ICE.
GOP Sen. Eric Schmitt of Missouri, in a fiery speech, fought back
against the Democrats' proposed restraints. “This question about
deporting illegal immigrants was on the ballot. President Trump was not
bashful," he said. “And the American people supported the idea that we
are going to deport people.”
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President Donald Trump gestures as Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., House
Speaker Mike Johnson of La., Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., and Rep.
Lisa McClain, R-Mich., applaud at the Republican Members Issues
Conference, Monday, March 9, 2026, at Trump National Doral Miami in
Doral, Fla. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Yet there are signs of cracks in the Trump coalition. Some
Republicans prefer what one called a more humane approach and are
sharing their views with Mullin.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., considered a stalwart against illegal
immigration, said in his state it’s immigrants who milk most of the
dairy cows, and he’s heard from restaurant groups that rely on
immigrants to fill jobs.
“Can we just turn back the clock and have these all these people who
came in here illegally, just be back home?” he asked.
“In terms of actually implementing that, it’s a lot tougher —
particularly, in fact, when you realize a lot of these people, most
of them, came here to seek opportunity, wanting freedom,” he said.
“They’re working, supporting their family, contributing to
organizations and community.”
Mass deportation group wants more
The Mass Deportation Coalition, a group of conservative
organizations including the Heritage Foundation and Erik Prince,
founder of the security firm Blackwater, was formed recently to keep
the administration on track.
It calls last year's focus on removing violent criminal immigrants
“phase one” and says “phase two” should focus this year on deporting
immigrants beyond those with violent criminal histories.
Mark Morgan, who served as acting head of ICE and Customs and Border
Protection during Trump’s first term and is part of the coalition,
said that doesn’t mean roving patrols through Home Depot parking
lots. It's about strategic enforcement focused on immigrants at
worksites, those who have overstayed visas and who a judge has
already ordered removed, he said.
But they’re facing opposition from within the Republican Party,
Morgan said, particularly from those who want to narrow deportation
to mainly criminals and from business groups that want to ease up on
worksite enforcement.
“The Republicans that are saying that their definition of targeted
enforcement is only criminal, they’re wrong. They’re on the wrong
side of this,” he said.
“That’s why you see some of the base that’s really becoming
apoplectic because they’re like, 'Wait a minute. You’re talking
about only removing criminals now?' That’s not what you promised,'”
Morgan said.
What's coming next
The deportation advocates as well as those working to protect the
rights of immigrants see that the Trump administration’s best chance
at reaching its goals is creating an environment so unwelcoming for
immigrants that they just leave — what's often called
self-deportation.
Mehta, at the ACLU, expects the administration will step up efforts
to end temporary permissions that allow immigrants to remain in the
U.S. — particularly refugees and asylum-seekers — while their cases
are making their way through the system. She called it a “deliberate
attempt to make people undocumented — to take away lawful status —
and then to be able to enforce against them.”
Sen. Alex Padilla, D-Calif., said he fears more nonviolent
immigrants will be rounded up to fill the new warehouses being
equipped as the Trump administration tries to reach its deportation
goals.
That's unacceptable, he said, and among "the key questions that
Senator Mullin will have to answer at his confirmation hearing.”
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