It turns out President Trump’s promised “mass deportations” won’t require dragnets and cattle cars after all.
This summer ICE racked up the largest numbers of arrests of illegal aliens ever recorded, with more on the way.
And all without the theatrics that culminated in the shooting of two Americans by DHS officers in Minneapolis.
The intentionally provocative approach of ousted DHS Secretary Kristi Noem and her field commander, Border Patrol agent Greg Bovino, was thrilling for the more excitable elements on both the Right and the Left. One side wanted revenge for Biden’s and DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’s truly lawless and harmful border policies, while the anti-borders side was practically giddy with euphoria at having their fantasies of impending fascism seemingly confirmed.
President Trump probably appreciated some of the theatrics too, but also saw that the shooting of two American citizens—however much their conduct may have warranted it—was eroding support for his immigration agenda.
In response, he sent Border Czar Tom Homan to de-escalate the situation in Minneapolis, and nationwide. The number of arrests did indeed drop immediately afterward, leading some of those excitable immigration hawks to despair.
But Homan made clear at the time that there would be a change in tactics, but not in goals. And he’s been as good as his word.
. . .