Sources familiar with discussions between him and senior aides say President Donald Trump privately told First Lady Melania Trump that his hardline immigration enforcement approach has become “election poison.” The surprising admission arrives as the president faces growing calls to reform Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after a string of contentious raids that drew national attention.
The remark came after violent confrontations in Los Angeles that followed ICE raids sparked clashes with police, prompting Trump to send about 700 U.S. Marines from the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms to the city. Those troops supplemented National Guard units already protecting federal personnel and property in the greater Los Angeles area.
Over the last year, domestic immigration enforcement was reshaped under Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander-at-large (a post that was eliminated in January 2026), who became the face of the administration’s interior enforcement push. Congress approved roughly $178 billion in Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding through reconciliation—the largest DHS supplemental package ever—facilitating expanded enforcement nationwide.
The human toll has been high. The deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of ICE and Customs and Border Protection officers intensified criticism that the administration strayed from its pledge to target immigrants with criminal convictions. Both 37-year-old U.S. citizens were shot in Minneapolis during Operation Metro Surge in January 2026.
“Immigrants, refugees, asylum seekers, and their allies are no longer safe,” said HIAS staff in a statement after the shootings.
The administration carried out a broad reorganization of ICE, replacing more than a dozen senior local officials with leaders from Customs and Border Protection. Jason Houser, ICE chief of staff from 2021 to 2023, described the shake-up as politically driven rather than rooted in law enforcement needs.
“What’s unfolding under Bovino isn’t law enforcement. It’s political stagecraft directed from Washington, not the field,” Houser wrote in his critique of the reorganization.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has been a central architect of the administration’s immigration agenda. He is coordinating closely with new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin — confirmed by the Senate on March 22, replacing Kristi Noem — and “border czar” Tom Homan. Miller runs daily 10 a.m. calls demanding agency updates and puts pressure on officials who fall short. The group advanced plans that include placing ICE agents in airport security lines during the ongoing partial DHS shutdown and creating temporary detention compounds to process large numbers of migrants.
The enforcement push has reached nearly every region of the country. More than 400,000 people have been processed through an expanded immigration detention system, which has grown to support the administration’s aim of one million removals per year.
The potential scale of deportations is vast. Over 16.7 million people live with at least one undocumented family member, and about six million of those are children under 18. Undocumented adults account for nearly five percent of the workforce. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has called for reducing the immigration detention system by at least 75 percent.
In Los Angeles, where recent clashes took place, local officials have openly disagreed with federal authorities over tactics. California Governor Gavin Newsom sharply criticized the troop deployment as a “serious breach of state sovereignty” and has filed multiple lawsuits against the administration.
In San Antonio, Texas, community leaders gathered at City Hall on Feb. 20, 2026, to protest the administration’s policies. Comparable demonstrations have broken out in cities from Atlanta to New York City as news of enforcement operations spread.
Community organizers and advocacy groups like HIAS have mobilized nationwide to support immigrant families facing detention or deportation. In Minneapolis, thousands attended candlelight vigils after the Good and Pretti shootings.
Naureen Shah, ACLU director of policy and government affairs for immigration, described sending ICE agents to airports as an unprecedented escalation. ICE officers appeared at more than a dozen airports, including JFK, Atlanta, New Orleans, and Phoenix, after Trump ordered the deployment amid a partial DHS shutdown that has left TSA workers unpaid since February 14, triggering widespread callouts and long security lines. Trump said agents could make immigration arrests at airports, calling them “very fertile territory.”
The airport deployments have increased pressure on Congress to end the six-week partial DHS shutdown. Democrats have withheld funding while demanding ICE reforms following the Minneapolis shootings, and Republicans have blocked piecemeal funding proposals. Senators from both parties said they were cautiously hopeful a deal to separate ICE funding from the broader DHS bill could be reached by week’s end.
Vice President JD Vance has been mostly silent publicly, though sources say he has privately raised concerns about the political fallout. The administration’s approval ratings on immigration have fallen sharply since early 2026, with polls showing rising unease even among Republican voters about the tactics being used.
With Trump approaching his 80th birthday in June, he faces a key decision on whether to keep the current enforcement strategy or change course. His comment to Melania indicates he sees the political risk, but turning that recognition into policy shifts would mean abandoning the hardline approach that has defined his administration.
The stakes are extremely high for millions of immigrant families.