According to people familiar with discussions between him and senior aides, President Donald Trump privately told First Lady Melania Trump that his administration’s tough immigration tactics have become “election poison.” The surprising concession arrives as the president faces increasing calls to change Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after several high-profile raids that provoked national outrage.
The comment came after violent confrontations in Los Angeles when ICE raids sparked clashes with law enforcement, leading Trump to send about 700 U.S. Marines from the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms to assist. Those troops supplemented National Guard units already protecting federal staff and facilities in the greater Los Angeles area.
Over the last year, domestic immigration enforcement changed dramatically under Gregory Bovino, the Border Patrol commander-at-large (a role that was terminated in January 2026), who became the public face of the administration’s interior enforcement push. Congress approved roughly $178 billion for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) through reconciliation—the largest supplemental DHS funding package ever—allowing expanded enforcement actions nationwide.
The human toll has been substantial. The deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti at the hands of ICE and Customs and Border Protection officers intensified criticism that the administration abandoned its stated focus on immigrants with criminal records. 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 officials in various cities with leaders from Customs and Border Protection. Jason Houser, ICE chief of staff from 2021 to 2023, described the reshuffle as driven by politics rather than operational 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 analysis of the enforcement changes.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has played a major role in shaping immigration policy. He is coordinating closely with the new Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin — confirmed by the Senate on March 22, replacing Kristi Noem — and “border czar” Tom Homan. Miller leads daily 10 a.m. calls demanding agency updates and pressures officials who fall short. Together they advanced plans to deploy ICE agents to airport security lines during the current partial DHS shutdown and to set up temporary detention sites to process thousands of migrants.
The enforcement campaign has reached nearly every region of the country. Over 400,000 people have been processed through an enlarged immigration detention system, expanded to support the administration’s target of one million removals per year.
The potential scale of deportations is enormous. More than 16.7 million people live with at least one undocumented family member, with roughly six million of those being children under 18. Undocumented adults represent nearly five percent of the labor force. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has urged cutting the size of the immigration detention system by at least 75 percent.
In Los Angeles, where recent clashes occurred, local officials have publicly battled federal authorities over enforcement tactics. California Governor Gavin Newsom 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 assembled at City Hall on Feb. 20, 2026, to protest the administration’s policies. Similar protests have taken place in cities nationwide—from Atlanta to New York City—as news of enforcement operations spread.
Community organizers and advocacy groups like HIAS have mobilized across the country 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, called sending ICE agents to airports 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 employees unpaid since February 14, prompting widespread absences and long security lines. Trump acknowledged the agents might make immigration arrests at airports, telling reporters the airports were “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 measures. Senators from both parties said they were cautiously hopeful a deal separating ICE funding from the broader DHS bill could be reached by the end of the week.
Vice President JD Vance has largely stayed quiet publicly about the controversy, though sources say he has privately voiced concerns about the political consequences. The administration’s approval ratings on immigration have fallen sharply since early 2026, with polling showing rising unease, even among Republican voters, about the tactics in use.
With Trump nearing his 80th birthday in June, he faces a pivotal choice about whether to maintain the current enforcement strategy or change direction. His remark to Melania indicates he sees the political risk, but reversing the hardline approach that has marked his presidency would require significant policy shifts.
The outcome matters deeply for millions of immigrant families.