Trump’s Immigration Goals Left Behind

 According to five people, including Trump administration officials, those close to the administration, and former ICE officials, the Trump administration’s leadership change at Immigration and Customs Enforcement is likely to increase arrest numbers and fuel its aggressive messaging campaign, but will have little impact on President Donald Trump’s larger goal of swiftly deporting more immigrants. As part of a larger initiative to increase the number of arrests nationwide, the Department of Homeland Security is stationing Border Patrol and Customs and Border Protection officers in many ICE field offices that Trump officials believe are performing poorly. 

Thousands more arrests are anticipated to be sent to ICE for processing as a result of Border Patrol’s enhanced involvement, but the agency’s capability to deport individuals is still hampered by a lack of aircraft for removal flights, a backlog of immigration courts, and a restricted number of beds. “Border Patrol simply wants to go out and arrest everyone in the world, and it’s easy for them to do that because they go out and arrest them and they turn them over to ICE,” an administration official who wished to remain anonymous stated. “All of these instances that aren’t ready to be removed are being given to ICE. And ICE faces a difficulty as a result. The dynamic draws attention to a conflict at the heart of the president’s immigration strategy for his second term. 

Trump authorities are keen to increase the number of arrests and removals, but they consistently encounter operational and resource difficulties in the face of an overburdened deportation system. Trump signed the GOP megabill in July, which gave DHS billions of dollars in additional funds to increase jail capacity and strengthen ICE’s ranks. However, the build-out process has been sluggish, and ICE has had difficulty hiring. The funding has been helpful, but it hasn’t yet been able to reconcile ICE’s growing but still constrained capabilities with the White House’s strong desire for more numbers.