There’s a feud brewing within the Trump administration between deportation hardliners at the Department of Homeland Security and officials at Immigration and Customs Enforcement, who want to focus on removing criminal illegal aliens.
In a nutshell, Border Patrol — an arm of DHS — is casting as wide a net as possible to remove anyone who’s in the country illegally, while ICE wants to conduct targeted deportations in a bid to quell deranged leftist backlash.
On one side are Border Czar Tom Homan and ICE Director Todd Lyons, who want to focus on deporting criminal illegal aliens and those with final deportation orders, according to Fox News correspondent Bill Melugin.
On the other side are DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, her senior adviser Corey Lewandowski, and Border Patrol Commander Greg Bovino, who want to use “aggressive tactics to arrest anyone in the US illegally, including but not limited to criminals, to ramp up deportation numbers and achieve President Trump’s promises of mass deportations,” Melugin reported.
BREAKING: Per four senior DHS & Trump admin sources, a mass removal of ICE leadership around the country is underway, with up to 12 ICE field office chiefs being removed & reassigned in an effort to increase deportation numbers. I’m told the move is spearheaded by Corey…
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) October 27, 2025
ICE officials told Melugin that Border Patrol has been conducting “roving patrols in Los Angeles, Chicago, etc, often at Home Depot, car washes, flea markets etc, leading to a handful of federal judges around the country issuing injunctions against them.”
Because the public can’t distinguish between ICE and Border Patrol, ICE officials claim they’re getting blamed for conducting indiscriminate raids.
This has caused a P.R. nightmare, the agency said, by turning public sentiment against ICE and the Trump administration’s deportation operations.
Should Trump remove illegals who have been in the country 20 years or longer?
“ICE started with the worst of the worst, knowing every target they are hitting, but since Border Patrol started in LA in June, we’ve (DHS) lost our focus, going too hard, too fast, with limited prioritization. It’s getting numbers, but at what cost?,” a DHS official said.
In response, Border Patrol agents defended their aggressive tactics, saying it’s necessary if the administration is serious about eradicating illegal immigration.
“What did everyone think mass deportations meant? Only the worst?” one agent told Melugin. “Tom Homan has said it himself, anyone in the US illegally is on the table.”
DHS officials and Trump administration sources said a “mass removal of ICE leadership around the country is underway, with up to 12 ICE field office chiefs being removed & reassigned in an effort to increase deportation numbers,” according to Melugin.
Sources said ICE leadership will likely be removed from the following field offices:
- Los Angeles
- Phoenix
- Philadelphia
- Denver
- El Paso
- San Diego
- Seattle/Portland
- New Orleans.
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin responded to the scuttlebutt by saying, “[W]e have no personnel changes to announce right now but we remain laser focused on RESULTS and we will deliver.”
She added that the Trump administration will continue to “remove criminal illegal aliens from this country.”
This is one team, one fight. President Trump has a brilliant, tenacious team led by @Sec_Noem to deliver on the American people’s mandate to remove criminal illegal aliens from this country.@StephenM @RealTomHoman @ICEDirector @CMDROpAtLargeCA @CLewandowski_ @ICEDeputy are… https://t.co/S9KlXkscXM
— Tricia McLaughlin (@TriciaOhio) October 28, 2025
When all’s said and done, ICE and DHS both need to understand, they’re on the same side and have the same goal, which is to eradicate the scourge of mass illegal immigration.
The United States does not exist to serve as a dumping ground for unvetted armies of third-world migrants.
And American taxpayers are not required to feed and house tens of millions of illegal aliens for the rest of their lives simply because emotionally incontinent leftists demand that we do.
As the late President Ronald Reagan reminded us, “A nation that cannot control its borders is not a nation.”
No nation, no matter how wealthy or powerful, can survive the catastrophic impact of unfettered illegal immigration, which drains public resources, endangers national security, and jeopardizes public safety.
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