White House border czar Tom Homan admitted Wednesday that deportations are “slightly down” as the Trump administration faces pressure to ramp up the “mass deportations” the president campaigned on.
Homan told the Washington Examiner that 800,000 illegal immigrants have been removed from the country — stating 60% of them are criminals and hundreds of thousands are safety threats — but acknowledged the pace of deportations has slowed down. The admitted slowdown has come amid court fights, sanctuary city resistance, political fallout following Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations in Minneapolis, and the transition in leadership at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) from former Secretary Kristi Noem to Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
“Numbers are slightly down, but there’s a plan. Get them back up and even higher,” Homan told the Examiner.
“Am I happy with the numbers right now? No, I want more, too. Even though numbers are historic, I want more,” he added.
DHS pushed back on the idea that immigration enforcement is slowing, telling the Daily Caller News Foundation that the second Trump administration has removed more than three million illegal immigrants from the country.
“Since Day One, DHS law enforcement has been delivering on President Trump’s promise to make America safe again,” a DHS spokesperson told the DCNF. “Nearly 70% of ICE arrests are of illegal aliens charged or convicted of a crime in the U.S. More than 3 million illegal aliens are out of the country and counting. Our message is clear: if you come to our country illegally, we will find you, we will arrest you, and we will deport you. ICE is NOT slowing down.”
Homan’s 800,000 removals come after Customs and Border Protection (CBP) recorded roughly 10.9 million nationwide encounters from fiscal years 2021 through 2024, which largely covered the Biden administration, including more than 8.7 million at the southwest border, according to CBP data.
The gap has frustrated immigration hardliners, who argue that the administration is not moving quickly enough on Trump’s promises.
The slowdown comes just months after Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis. After the operation that resulted in the deaths of two American citizens and a large-scale anti-ICE protest, the administration declared a “huge victory” for public safety, which led to 4,000 arrests.
U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Markwayne Mullin salutes as he arrives to the commencement ceremony on Cadet Memorial Field at the United States Coast Guard Academy on May 20, 2026 in New London, Connecticut. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Homan told the Examiner that “the government shut down a lot because of Minneapolis,” saying lawmakers repeatedly raised issues involving masks, identifiers, body cameras, warrants and roving patrols during funding talks.
The fallout in Minneapolis eventually led to a major DHS shake-up as Trump replaced Noem with Mullin after months of controversy, including the Minneapolis operation and intense bipartisan questioning on Capitol Hill about a $220 million DHS ad campaign that reportedly angered Trump.
Mullin has signaled an effort to stabilize DHS after months of headlines regarding ICE and Border Patrol and pro-enforcement groups hoped he would restore credibility to the department.
The newly formed Mass Deportation Coalition has been pressing the administration to ramp up its deportation policies and encouraging Mullin to review its soon-to-be plan to deport one million illegal immigrants from the country.
Trump has appeared to soften his rhetoric around illegal immigrants, saying in January that officials had to “lighten up” on illegal immigrants working on farms, in hotels and in restaurants while focusing on criminals.
“We have a lot of heart for people. They came in illegally, but they’re good people,” Trump said, while adding the administration was focused on “murderers,” “drug dealers” and the “mentally insane.”
Public support for the administration’s illegal immigration policies has slipped. In January, Trump’s immigration approval fell 39% down from 50% in February 2025, according to Reuters.
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