Washington, DC — Earlier this year, in the aftermath of the violence and terror in Minneapolis that resulted in the shooting of two U.S. citizens, political advisors in the Trump administration and Republican circles emphasized the GOP would distance itself from its mass deportation pledges. Yet, despite the focus on softer messaging and a transition in leadership at DHS, there was no promise of substantive change or attempts to back away from the cruelty and harms of the actual mass deportation agenda.
Recent days’ evidence have confirmed the assessment that nothing real has changed:
- The volume of heartbreaking stories of those being targeted and harmed by mass deportation continues – from Venezuelan doctors in South Texas to spouses of active duty U.S. military members to children in detention.
- The 2026 and 2027 ICE budget requests made the 1 million annual mass deportation quota official: the Trump administration has a quota of 1 million deportations per year despite the talk of softer messaging (per Washington Times scoop).
- Revelation how the Trump administration is diverting national security resources toward mass deportation. Relying on previously “unreported internal federal agency documents and footnotes in the Office of Management and Budget’s apportionments database,” a recent investigative piece in NOTUS added new evidence to show why the Trump/Miller anti-immigrant crusade is making all of us less safe – and why ICE, CBP, and Stephen Miller shouldn’t have another dime for mass deportation via reconciliation.
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“When it comes to the Trump-Miller mass deportation campaign, nothing has changed. The destruction continues. No observer should have taken seriously the idea that President Trump and Stephen Miller would actually undertake a course correction from their mass deportation obsessions, but the whiplash between what some GOP political operatives are trying to emphasize and the real world examples of cruelty and terror inflicted on families, children, and American communities remains staggering. Mass deportation remains unchecked, unaccountable and unabated – which is exactly why America cannot spend one more dime on this chaos and cruelty. We need real accountability and real reform – not a blank check to fund Stephen Miller’s crusade.”
Also see Politico‘s headline accompanying their recent poll release, “Poll: Trump’s immigration message changed. Voters’ opinions have not,” going on to detail, “A new POLITICO poll finds half of Americans — including one quarter of Trump’s 2024 voters — said his mass deportations campaign is too aggressive.” As America’s Voice detailed yesterday, the poll also found that majority of Americans recognize the mass deportation agenda is going too far, is making us less safe, and doesn’t need more funding from Congress:
- By a 58-22% margin, Americans say ICE and Border Patrol don’t need more funding from Congress, with 38% saying ICE and CBP have too much funding already; 20% say they already have the right amount of funding; and just 22% saying they need more funding.
- By a 52-33% margin, Americans say the presence of ICE agents in U.S. cities is making them much more or somewhat more dangerous versus much less or somewhat less dangerous (33% say much more dangerous vs. 21% who say much less dangerous).
- By a 51-11% margin, Americans say the mass deportation campaign has been too aggressive versus not aggressive enough, with another 26% saying it’s been about right.
