The White House on Tuesday responded to a report from Axios that Republican lawmakers are being urged by the Trump Administration to stop using the phrase “mass deportations” ahead of the midterm elections.
They did not appear to deny the report, however. Instead, the White House highlighted the high percentage of deportations for illegal aliens with a criminal record, adding, “Nobody is changing the Administration’s immigration enforcement agenda.”
White House Deputy Press Secretary Abigail Jackson said in a statement to Fox News, per Bill Melugin,
“Nobody is changing the Administration’s immigration enforcement agenda. President Trump’s highest priority has always been the deportation of illegal alien criminals who endanger American communities. As the Department of Homeland Security has repeatedly said, approximately 70% of deportations to date have been illegal aliens with criminal records.
Thanks to President Trump’s strong immigration enforcement policies, approximately 3 million illegals have left the United States, either through forced deportation or self-deportation, with zero illegals coming through the most secure border in U.S. History for nine straight months.”
MORE: Statement to @FoxNews via WH official @ATJackson47:
“Nobody is changing the Administration’s immigration enforcement agenda. President Trump’s highest priority has always been the deportation of illegal alien criminals who endanger American communities. As the Department…
— Bill Melugin (@BillMelugin_) March 10, 2026
But this is simply the same policy that the Obama Administration used, focusing on “the identification and removal of aliens who are convicted of a serious criminal offense,” as stated in a DHS memo.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair also responded on X yesterday, emphasizing the Trump Administration’s commitment to deporting “the violent/criminal illegals.”
It’s very simple:
Republicans want to keep deporting the violent/criminal illegals that Joe Biden & the Democrats in Congress let in.
Democrats want to shield them from deportation, which is why they unanimously support sanctuary cities.
Republicans will get the violent criminals out. Democrats will throw the border back open.
Choose accordingly.
It’s very simple:
Republicans want to keep deporting the violent/criminal illegals that Joe Biden & the Democrats in Congress let in.
Democrats want to shield them from deportation, which is why they unanimously support sanctuary cities.
Republicans will get the violent…
— James Blair (@JamesBlairUSA) March 10, 2026
This comes after sources told Axios that Blair urged GOP lawmakers at the annual House retreat last weekend to avoid “mass deportation” language and focus on the removal of illegals who committed additional crimes.
Per Axios:
White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair privately urged House Republicans on Tuesday to stop emphasizing “mass deportations” and instead focus their messaging on removing violent criminals, according to sources in the closed-door briefing.
State of play: Blair delivered the message during a policy listening session with House Republicans at their annual retreat in Doral, Florida.
He encouraged members to focus on deporting violent offenders rather than defending the broader concept of mass removals.
The advice signals a recalibration by the White House — and reflects growing concern among some Republicans that Democrats are successfully framing Trump’s immigration policy as overly sweeping and indiscriminate.
Blair instead told Republican lawmakers that they should find “real Americans” to bear witness to the benefits of Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill, which passed last summer, according to the report.
This also comes as Trump’s own vision for the mass deportations he promised on the campaign trail is changing to focus on the criminals, not people who only came in illegally.
During a press briefing on January 20, one year after Inauguration Day, Trump told reporters that he wanted to “lighten up” on the deportations, describing illegal workers as “good people.”
“We have a lot of heart for people. They came in illegally, but they’re good people, and they’re working now on farms, and they’re working in luncheonettes and hotels and all. And we’re not looking— we’re looking to get the criminals out right now, the criminals, and I think it’s very important,” he said. “in theory,” he said, illegal alien workers “should be” deported, “but we’re focused on the murderers, the drug dealers, the mentally insane.”
WATCH:
Before this, on July 3, 2025, Trump stunned supporters by revealing that legislation is being drafted to protect illegal aliens in the agriculture and hospitality industries while speaking in Des Moines, Iowa.
“You had cases where, not here, but just even over the years, where people have worked for a farm, on a farm, for 14, 15 years, and they get thrown out pretty viciously, and we can’t do it. We’ve got to work with the farmers and people that have hotels and leisure properties too,” Trump told supporters during a rally at the Iowa State Fairgrounds last year. “I think that that’s going to make a lot of people happy. Now, serious, radical right People, who I also happen to like a lot, they may not be quite as happy, but they’ll understand. Wont they?”
WATCH:
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