GOP Lawmakers Split on Whether White House Should Shift Away From Mass Deportation Messaging
Elizabeth Troutman Mitchell /
Some conservative members of Congress are concerned President Donald Trump is moving away from his promise to carry out the “largest deportation” in U.S. history, while others say they’ve been advocating for such a shift.
White House deputy chief of staff James Blair encouraged Republican members this week to focus on the deportation of criminal illegal immigrants rather than mass deportation, ahead of the midterm elections, members confirmed to The Daily Signal. Blair’s message at the GOP Issue Retreat in Doral, Florida, was first reported by Axios.
One conservative member pointed to recent polling from Cygnal showing that 73% of Americans believe illegally entering the United States is a crime.
“The American people elected President Trump because they believed in his platform of mass deportations,” the lawmaker told The Daily Signal. “Americans are tired of illegals ripping off citizens and getting housing, welfare, medical insurance, and other taxpayer-funded benefits”
The lawmaker said Republicans need to continue to stand for mass deportations.
“We shouldn’t let the rhetoric of Leftist news and radical Democrats cause us to stray from our mission— we must remove any illegal alien that has entered our country,” the lawmaker said. “Illegal aliens are criminal aliens.”
About 70% of deportations to date have been illegal immigrants with criminal records, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
“Nobody is changing the Administration’s immigration enforcement agenda. President Trump’s highest priority has always been the deportation of illegal alien criminals who endanger American communities,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson told The Daily Signal in a statement.
“Thanks to President Trump’s strong immigration enforcement policies, approximately 3 million illegals have left the United States, either through forced deportation or self-deportation, with zero illegals coming through the most secure border in U.S. History for nine straight months,” she added.
During his campaign, Trump said, “We’re going to have the largest deportation in the history of our country.” A GOP congressional staffer told The Daily Signal the Republicans need to stay focused on bringing that promise to fruition.
“It’s what we ran on in 2024,” the staff member said. “It’s what won us the trifecta, and for us to backtrack on what we’re supposed to be doing for America, is that the direction that we should be heading in, especially going into the midterms?”
A senior administration official told The Daily Signal this comes in the wake of a “tone shift” at the Department of Homeland Security after Secretary Kristi Noem’s turbulent hearings before Congress.
Shortly after the hearings, Trump chose Oklahoma Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin to replace Noem as DHS secretary.
However, many Republicans are on board with the realignment in focus on immigration.
One GOP member told The Daily Signal that the shift makes sense and is in line with what many members have been advocating for.
“The primary objective should be to remove proven/convicted dangerous and violent criminals,” the member stated.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., told The Daily Signal in a phone call that Trump’s focus has been on criminals all along, and the media has misconstrued his immigration agenda to imply he’s deporting innocent children and nurses.
“Trump’s exactly right,” Norman said. “He’s taking criminals off the street. And I don’t know how many more deaths we have to have with Laken Riley and the others that have been publicized.”
“Tim Walz ought to either resign before he leaves office or cover his head in shame everywhere he goes,” Norman said of the Minnesota governor, who strongly opposed Trump’s deportation push in his state. “It’s just a disaster with him, but the Trump administration is doing exactly what’s right.”
Norman, a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, is currently running for governor of South Carolina.
Norman said Trump is not deporting “the many hard-working people that are getting the crops into the process,” but rather, has always focused on criminals.
“The good that’s been accomplished by this administration is like no other,” Norman said, “and I applaud him 100%.”
Border czar Tom Homan told the Republican Main Street Caucus in a meeting last week that he was in “strong agreement” with it that “enforcement efforts should remain focused on the worst criminal offenders,” according to a letter from the caucus recapping the meeting.
“Prioritizing the removal of individuals who pose the greatest threats to public safety ensures that federal resources are used effectively while protecting American families and communities,” the letter says.
Oversight Project President Mike Howell, who is part of the “Mass Deportation Coalition,” said the answer to why Republicans are moving away from mass deportations can be found by following the money.
“Big donors don’t like it. Special interests don’t like it,” he told The Daily Signal. “They like their cheap labor.”
Politico reported that executives in the construction sector held meetings with the White House and Congress to discuss how mass deportations have harmed their industry.
“It’s not about winning elections,” Howell said. “It’s about winning donations.”
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, said no one has told him to change his focus away from mass deportations, but if they do, he won’t comply.
“The swamp would love the Trump administration to abandon its most popular and important promise to the American people, which is exactly why Senator Lee is shutting down their rumor mill,” Billy Gribbin, Lee’s communications director, told The Daily Signal.