Is Trump's Deportation Policy America First or Israel First?

In 2024, Donald Trump promised that if he were elected for a second term, America would see the “largest deportation operation” in U.S. history. Now, after two months in power, it seems that this pledge has yet to be carried out, as the deportation effort is anything but large.

Low Deportation Numbers

During his first month in office, Trump deported 37,660 people, which is less than the monthly average during the last year of the Biden administration. If deportations continue at this rate, America will see less than two million by the end of Trump’s time in office.

That would leave upwards of ten million illegal aliens still in the country by the time a new administration takes over. However, no one knows how many people are in the country illegally, with some estimates exceeding twenty million.

So why has Trump not been living up to his campaign promises of mass deportations? The truth is, it’s not entirely the fault of his administration. Liberal judges have been blocking new policies that would expedite deportations. Lack of funding for ICE has also been cited as a reason for low deportation numbers. Still, a few weeks ago, Congress passed a continuing resolution that will allocate over $9.9 billion to ICE.

Excuses can be made, but considering that the Republicans currently hold all three branches of government, the fact that the mass deportations are not being prioritized is alarming. The window of opportunity for them to do something so politically aggressive is very small, given that it will only be a few months until Republicans start campaigning for the midterms and will use re-election as the number one excuse for their inaction.

All Talk, No Action

Despite these disappointing numbers, the White House has attempted to mask their failures with emotionally-striking visuals of deportations in action. Below is a picture of an arrested fentanyl trafficker crying hysterically, which was turned into a meme format after being run through an AI 'Ghibli' generator.

Another post shows Secretary Kristi Noem in front of a prison cell in El Salvador with criminals packed tightly together, threatening that their fate would be shared with anyone who tries to cross illegally into America. Examples also include an ASMR video of illegal immigrants being marched in chains onto a flight to their home country.

There's nothing wrong with providing visuals of justice being served, but it's important to ask ourselves why our government is putting out this specific content. The government doesn't put material like this just to 'rage-bait' liberals; its purpose is to give the MAGA base the satisfaction of seeing their enemies humiliated and punished.

In other words, to make MAGA feel like they're 'winning' despite the disappointingly low deportation numbers.

Is This an 'Israel First' Deportation Approach?

The Trump Administration has been making up for their lack of action with sensationalized propaganda that makes the base feel as if a lot is getting done. But what exactly has been getting done?

Well, despite there being upwards of twenty million people still in the United States illegally, many of them involved in criminal activities, it seems that deportation efforts have been focused on anti-Israel legal immigrants instead. One of the first things that Trump did when he was inaugurated was sign an executive order to 'combat antisemitism,' which included a promise to deport activists on student visas who took part in 'pro-Jihadist,' meaning pro-Palestine demonstrations.

Following this order, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has said that over 300 student visas have been revoked due to pro-Palestine activism. One of these students was a Turkish woman named Rumeysa Ozturk, who was snatched off the street and whisked away to a detention center after co-authoring an op-ed asking her University to divest from Israel. Friends and colleagues told AP News that Ozturk was not involved in any of the on-campus demonstrations last year.

Right-wing social media was very divided on the detainment of Ozturk, with some cheering it on because they are happy to see any immigrant leave the country. Still, others question why criticism of a foreign country should lead a graduate student on a green card to be deported.

The reality is that there are plenty of military-age males still roaming American streets who have illegally broken into the country and are involved in criminal activities like trafficking of drugs and humans.

Why should federal resources be directed to prioritize ridding the country of people who criticize Israel, a foreign nation, over keeping the American people safe from violent criminals?

Not only that, but it's concerning that an open letter asking a university to divest from funding a foreign country is considered legally equivalent to supporting a terrorist group. If the Trump Administration is treating left-wing Israel-critical students in this way, who's to say they won't take the same approach when it comes to Israel-critical right-wingers?

It's Time for MAGA to Remember What We're Here For

Taking a realistic view of the output of this administration so far doesn't necessitate being anti-Trump or even anti-Republican. Conservatives pride themselves on thinking freely and attempting to keep politicians on our own side of the aisle accountable to the American people and remind them of the promises they made on the campaign trail. Mass deportations were not only a core promise of the Trump campaign, but they are the sole issue that defines Trumpism as a political movement.

Trump was elected in 2016 because he defined himself as someone who was set apart from the donor class; he wasn't running for political interest groups but for values that he shared with the American people.

In his 2016 RNC acceptance speech, he said, "Big business, elite media, and major donors are lining up behind the campaign of my opponent because they know she will keep our rigged system in place. They are throwing money at her because they have total control over everything she does. She is their puppet, and they pull the strings." Now, it seems that just like the political establishment that he once criticized, Trump is having his own 'strings pulled' by a powerful minority.

As voters, we must hold Trump accountable to these promises made, and right now, he needs to be called out for putting the interests of the Israel-first donor class above the interests of the everyday American people who voted for him.

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