Trump Team’s Immigration Lies Unravel and Undercut by Trump Personnel

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Washington, DC —Taking stock of another busy immigration week in Trump’s America, we’re struck by several related storylines.

• New reporting by Nick Miroff in The Atlantic offers the latest reminder that the Trump administration is lying to justify the fiction that their mass deportation agenda is focused on public safety threats – a lie that has been undermined by the administration’s own attorneys in court proceedings (just as their earlier lies about a Venezuelan “invasion” were undercut by their own intelligence analysts).
• Meanwhile, as Stephen Miller and other officials push to turbocharge mass deportation numbers, including by refocusing FBI money and manpower away from existing non-immigration topics, we are seeing the real families, real communities, and real costs of those being targeted and harmed by the administration’s immigration agenda.

According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:

“They told America they only wanted to get the ‘bad ones.’ Well, they lied. The Trump Administration is going for anyone and everyone, due process or legal status be damned. It’s a sad reflection of Trump’s America that we’ve come to expect lies from the Oval Office that the administration’s own attorneys disavow in court. Meanwhile, as Stephen Miller and team seek to turbocharge the cruelty and chaos, including by forcing FBI agents to become part of the deportation force, we’re again seeing reminders that the Trump deportation dragnet is ensnaring long-settled contributors and young people and spreading harms and fears to local communities and economies alike. All of it raises the key question, ‘isn’t there a better way?”

Below are more details and context from several key articles and analysis this week:

• In The Atlantic, Nick Miroff writes, “Trump Immigration Cases, It’s One Thing in Public, Another in Court,” noting that, “Outside of court, President Donald Trump and his top aides depict deportees as terrorists and gang leaders regardless of whether they’ve been convicted of a crime. They admit no mistakes. And if judges rule unfavorably, they denounce them as “communists” and “lunatics” and suggest that they won’t respect their rulings … The approach has at times left Department of Justice lawyers stuck between what Trump officials say publicly and their professional and legal obligations to make truthful statements in court.”

• In CNN, “White House pressure for increased immigration arrests strains law enforcement agencies,” highlighting, “The White House is putting intense pressure on law enforcement agencies across the government to meet a goal of a million deportations a year. That’s led to a surge of agents and officers across the federal government focusing their attention on arrests and deportation efforts – and in some cases straining resources. At the FBI, hundreds of agents have been reassigned to immigration-related duties, raising concerns among agents that the shift could hinder important national security investigations, including into terror threats and espionage by China and Russia, according to people familiar with the matter.”

• Read Gabe Ortiz on the America’s Voice Substack on Stephen Miller, “Stephen Miller Puts Boot on Neck of ICE Agents: Deport More Parents, Long-Settled Contributors, and Students – Or Else,” noting, “Shadow President and mass deportation architect-in-chief Stephen Miller reportedly berated immigration officials for not being brutal enough in their mass deportation agenda. Miller demanded they quadruple the number of arrests they’re currently carrying out, Axios reports. Miller’s abrasive tone reportedly left some meeting attendees “feeling their jobs could be in jeopardy if the new targets aren’t reached, two of the sources said.’ … Because the courts keep ruling against some of the administration’s agenda, Miller’s only going to triple down on picking on immigrants. And when ICE agents help him with that, they won’t be keeping America safe, they’ll just be keeping their own jobs safe.”
• Read the new op-ed for the Courier Newsroom, “The Key Immigration Policy Question Should Be Isn’t There a Better Way?,” from America’s Voice Executive Director Vanessa Cárdenas. She asks, “Isn’t there a better way than what we all are witnessing?” and notes: “Americans want things fixed, not destroyed, including the broken immigration system that has been desperate for an overhaul for decades. And now there’s a growing conversation oriented around the fact that Trump’s overreach and ugliness is moving us in the wrong direction on immigration, away from the real solutions America needs.”