Border czar promises more mass deportations this year : NPR

White House Border Czar Tom Homan speaks to the press at the White House in Washington, DC, April 14, 2026.

Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

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Brendan Smialowski/AFP via Getty Images

PHOENIX — Top Trump administration officials this week reinforced plans to carry out mass deportations as a key immigration strategy.

Speaking at the Border Security Expo in Phoenix, Arizona, White House border official Tom Homan praised the work of Border Patrol agents and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents over the last year and said the high number of arrests and expulsions is expected to continue.

Immigration agents arrested more than half a million undocumented immigrants last year, according to officials speaking at the Expo, and are now making about 1,200 arrests a day; President Trump campaigned on a promise of one million evictions a year.

“If you think last year’s historic number is good, wait until next year and we’ll have 10,000 more agents at the border. You ain’t seen shit yet,” Homan said in his opening remarks to kick off the Expo. “This year will be a good year. Mass deportations are coming.”

The remarks contrast with Homan’s softer message on immigration enforcement after two U.S. citizens were killed by Homeland Security agents during an immigration enforcement operation in Minneapolis in January. Lawmakers from both parties have called for an end to the crackdown in Minnesota — a pullback led by Homan — and a change in leadership at the Department of Homeland Security.

Trump earlier this year promised “a little softer touch” on immigration and replaced Kristi Noem with former Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin as secretary of homeland security.

Polls from earlier this year showed a decline in public support for aggressive crackdown tactics against all immigrants who entered the country illegally, with more than half of respondents believing those tactics had gone “too far.” At the same time, nearly three-quarters of Republicans approved of the work ICE is doing.

Homan’s comments this week suggest the administration continues its relentless focus on Trump’s campaign promises.

“For those saying President Trump is weak on mass deportations, what are you talking about?” Homan said. “President Trump promised the American people that this was going to happen.”

He said evictions and arrests would prioritize anyone with a criminal record or considered a security threat.

But “that doesn’t mean that because you prioritize criminals, everyone is excluded,” he said in Phoenix. “I said no one is excluded. Why? I don’t care how long you’ve been here. If you’re here in this country illegally, you cheated.”

Although Mullin, the new DHS secretary, was not at the event, Homan said the secretary shared his views.

Mullin recently said the agency is not losing focus but is being “more discreet” about its approach.

“We’re deliberately trying to be a little more discreet. I made it very clear when we moved forward with my nomination that I wanted DHS not to be in the headlines,” Mullin said. Newsmax. He said that as of May 5 of this week, the agency arrested more than 1,900 people and last week it deported 2,700 people.

“We didn’t miss anything,” he said.

DOJ focuses on denaturalizations

The Border Security Expo is an annual event that brings together immigration officials and private companies vying for federal government contracts, ranging from massive drones to artificial intelligence to tactical equipment. This year’s conference also attracted participation from other branches of government, including the Departments of Justice and Defense.

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche was the first attorney general to speak at the Expo. He had a message for attendees: Federal law enforcement is united in its mission to arrest and deport people without legal status.

Blanche highlighted the interagency collaboration between the DOJ and DHS to investigate, arrest and prosecute undocumented immigrants. For his agency, he said denaturalizations and immigration courts were a priority.

“It doesn’t matter what your badge is. All federal agencies have been focused on the mission of illegal immigration,” Blanche said. “We do not view this as mission accomplished. …We continue to view illegal immigration and border security as a top priority for the department.”

Regarding denaturalizations, he said the agency is on track this month to surpass the total number of denaturalization cases during the four years of the Biden administration, which was 64.

Denaturalizations are rare and aim to strip citizenship from those who may have lied about their criminal convictions or membership in illegal groups on their citizenship application. The government must prove its accusations in court.

“We are trying to protect the integrity of the naturalization process,” Blanche said.

Homan said he anticipates more immigration enforcement in areas, like the state and New York City, that restrict cooperation with federal immigration enforcement authorities.

“You will see collateral arrests increase in these areas. You will see more officers in your neighborhoods because you forced us to take this position,” Homan said, addressing the Expo audience.

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) responded to Homan’s remarks on Wednesday.

“All I have to say to Tom Homan is that Donald Trump himself said he would not send a wave of ICE agents into New York state unless I asked him to,” Hochul said. “I don’t ask.”

Top DHS officials seek to quickly spend Congress’ money

Jaclyn Rubino, the DHS official who oversees how the department spends congressional funds, said the agency is on track to commit — or obligate — by September 75 percent of the $191 billion it received from congressional Republicans last summer in a package dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill. She said the agency was “prioritizing” its spending, which was allocated to recruiting staff, increasing detention and office space, new technology and more.

The funding made it possible to hire more people and share data among federal agencies, in addition to other priorities.

Rubino noted that specific recruiting goals within DHS, which included hiring 10,000 people at ICE and thousands more officers and agents at CBP, will have been met in the coming year and that each new hire will receive all necessary equipment like cars, weapons and technology.

Officials pointed to the decline in the number of people arrested while trying to cross the U.S. border with Mexico as a sign of success.

Officials have attributed the decline in border crossings to increased arrests, detentions and expulsions by ICE, which makes arrests inside the U.S. while Customs and Border Protection focuses largely on border areas.

“Cross-border flows dropped when ICE started making arrests,” said CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott. “ICE’s role is critical to border security.” He noted that the recruiting pool is “full,” with 5,000 new Border Patrol agents hired in the coming months.

Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, who will retire by the end of the month, said the agency is also hiring rapidly, with 2,500 new lawyers to pursue cases in immigration courts, 11,000 deportation agents and 3,500 special agents.

Rubino noted that while recruiting for law enforcement positions has been rapid, other support positions have been more difficult to recruit — especially with recent government shutdowns that have resulted in missed paychecks across the department.

Last week, Congress finally ended the longest agency shutdown in U.S. history, agreeing to fund most parts of DHS — but excluding some immigration enforcement functions. Republicans are separately considering a partisan process known as reconciliation to fund the entire DHS, including ICE and CBP, for the remainder of Trump’s term without any Democratic support.

“Mission support staff are critical,” Rubino said, referring to the recruiters and technologists needed for recruiting, hiring and onboarding. “We’ve had some challenges over the last year in terms of our ability to hire…I’m not sure it’s the most attractive place to go when you don’t have a paycheck for a very long time.”