According to some sources close to the White House, Donald Trump is reportedly furious with ICE agents, who are entrusted by the president with the task to arrest undocumented immigrants who should then be deported. However, Trump’s much-vaunted plan from the early days of his campaign seems not to be taking off.
For their part, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents are under growing pressure to increase the number of arrests of illegal immigrants. A source close to the MAGA leader, said the president is beginning to lose patience, and that message has been relayed to “border czar” Tom Homan, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller and acting ICE Director Caleb Vitello.
Reports suggest that Homan himself holds daily conference calls with the agency’s top leadership to express his, and the MAGA leader’s frustration in the face of unsatisfactory numbers of deportations.
In January, ICE, due to pressure from the federal administration, had set a goal of making between 1,200 and 1,400 arrests a day. These turned out to be like numbers from science fiction. According to data published by the agency in X, the record high of arrests made in 24 hours was 1,100. On Tuesday, however, 800 people were taken into custody and in the following days the numbers have only decreased, sending the U.S. president into a rage.
The goal set by Trump at the beginning of his term was to reach 1 million deportations by the end of the year. That means the agency should start arresting more than 2,700 immigrants a day. Given the numbers in these early weeks, the goal so dear to the MAGA leader would seem to be unattainable.
As revealed by NBC News, moreover, arrests do not always equate to immediate detentions, much less deportations. Of the more than 8,000 immigrants apprehended in the first two weeks of the Trump administration, 461 have been released.
Soon after reports began circulating that the MAGA leader was furious with ICE, Kush Desai, White House spokesman, tried to put a positive spin on the situation, saying: “Hundreds of violent, predatory, and gang-affiliated criminal illegal aliens have already been rounded up and deported by ICE since President Trump took office, and the Trump administration is aligned on securing our borders and ensuring that mass deportations are conducted quickly and effectively to put Americans and America First.”
