U.S. Government Shifts Mass Deportation Strategy to a More Subtle Approach

The Trump administration appears to be revising its mass deportation strategy, moving away from the aggressive and high-profile tactics that marked the early months of his second term to embrace a more discreet approach to immigration, according to an analysis by The Associated Press.

This change in strategy coincides with the appointment of the new Secretary of Homeland Security, Markwayne Mullin, who took over after Kristi Noem's dismissal on March 5. Unlike Noem, who made her first official trip to New York to personally participate in arrests alongside Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), Mullin traveled to North Carolina to oversee hurricane recovery efforts.

"We continue to enforce immigration laws. We are still deporting undocumented individuals who shouldn't be here. We are still targeting the worst of the worst, but we are doing it more discreetly," Mullin stated in an interview with CNBC on April 16.

The Shift in Leadership and Strategy

Gone are the days of images showing the then Border Patrol chief, Greg Bovino, clashing with protestors. Bovino retired at the end of March after 30 years of service, amidst controversies over operations in Minneapolis where two American citizens, Renée Good and Alex Pretti, were killed by federal agents under his command.

ICE arrests have decreased in recent months: the number of individuals in immigration custody dropped from a peak of approximately 72,000 in January to around 58,000 this week, according to data obtained by The Associated Press.

Ambitious Goals Amidst Subtlety

Despite the more covert approach, the administration insists it hasn't relented on its goals. ICE aims to deport 1 million people during this fiscal year and the next, compared to approximately 442,000 deported last year. The MAGA movement has pushed to maintain this goal.

To support this ambition, the government has acquired 11 warehouses nationwide to hold a capacity of 100,000 detainees simultaneously, more than double the previous year's daily average. Congress allocated over $170 billion to the Department of Homeland Security for its immigration agenda.

"They are working to build, truly, a colossal system," said Doris Meissner, former head of the Immigration and Naturalization Service and current senior fellow at the Migration Policy Institute.

Expanding Deportable Population

Simultaneously, the administration is advancing a quieter strategy to broaden the pool of deportable individuals. Approvals for Cuban residency plummeted by 99.8%, from over 10,000 monthly to just 15 in January, according to the Cato Institute. Additionally, the Supreme Court is considering whether the government can revoke Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of people from 17 countries, a case that could impact 1.3 million migrants.

ICE has also signed over 1,200 agreements with local jurisdictions, allowing state and municipal police to carry out immigration control tasks, thereby avoiding the public spectacle of raids. In this context, ICE's interim director, Todd Lyons, announced his resignation in April amid controversies over deaths in custody.

White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson insisted that there has been no change in strategy: "President Trump's top priority has always been the deportation of undocumented immigrants with criminal records who endanger American communities."

Mark Krikorian, president of the Center for Immigration Studies, summarized the ambiguity of the moment: "Clearly, they have distanced themselves from the old bovinist tactics. But it's unclear if this means they are truly stepping away from the immigration issue."