“Seal the border and stop the migrant invasion” and “Begin Largest Deportation Program in American History”. This is one of Donald Trump's signature policies, as recommended by National Conservatism (which is supported by Vice-President JD Vance). It entailed a hugely expanded department of Immigration Control and Enforcement (ICE). The following tweet listing tracks the development of this policy:
Trump wants to deport anyone he doesn't like to El Salvador, under a financial agreement with its president: https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/april-14-2025. Courts would be powerless, as he is in sole charge of foreign policy. Will the Supreme Court stop this?
The National Guard should only be used against civilians in an emergency. The LA demonstrations were largely peaceful and the California government had not asked for help. Trump was just looking for headlines again https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c628vwq9z9zo
Trump seeks “to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History” in Democrat States. He wants the headlines and he wants a confrontation so that he can clamp down on dissent https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/trump-orders-ice-to-go-after-democrat-power-centers
Trump's demonisation of immigrants is contagious. It is empowering neo-Nazism https://www.reuters.com/investigations/american-nazis-aryan-freedom-network-is-riding-high-trump-era-2025-08-08/
Trump has now moved beyond border controls and deporting undocumented immigrants, to affirm an American identity that predated “the sexual revolution, mass immigration, the Civil Rights Act and expanded LGBTQ rights” https://www.axios.com/2025/08/24/trump-american-identity-citizenship-immigration
Trump has declared war on Chicago, evoking the film "Apocalypse Now", saying "I love the smell of deportations in the morning" and "Chicago about to find out why it's called the Department of WAR" https://www.axios.com/2025/09/06/trump-chicago-department-of-war-crackdown-immigration
Trump’s ICE agents, arriving by helicopter in Chicago, “went door to door, woke up residents and used zip ties to restrain them”. Sending in the National Guard, to protect ICE, then follows: the next step on the road to martial law https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/immigration-agents-become-increasingly-aggressive-in-chicago
The drop in Dutch support for the Geert Wilders anti-immigrant PVV should let centrists form a government. And Trump’s deployment of ICE is also becoming unpopular. It’s too early to declare victory over the politics of hate though https://www.reuters.com/world/dutch-far-right-loses-ground-opening-door-centrist-coalition-talks-2025-10-30/
Trump defended ICE activity in Minnesota by saying of Somalia that “their country stinks” and that Somali refugee Rep. “Ilhan Omar is garbage”. Racist language against minority US populations has fascist overtones https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/12/02/somalis-minnesota-trump-walz-immigration-enforcement/
The Minneapolis killing of a woman by an ICE agent has been politicised. The video evidence is disputed. What is undisputed is that the case is being handled by the FBI – so a Republican interpretation will determine the legal outcome. This puts ICE above the law https://apnews.com/live/minneapolis-ice-shooting-updates-1-8-2026
New video evidence, including a soundtrack, prove beyond doubt that JD Vance’s assertion that Renee Good was threatening the ICE agent’s life is clearly a lie. That just makes the Administration look even worse https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/minneapolis-mayor-demands-transparent-investigation-into-ice-shooting-protests-2026-01-09/
If ICE is recruiting known violent racists, that could account for their criminal behaviour. There can be no justification for these agents concealing their identities to escape justice https://www.axios.com/2026/01/13/ice-trump-january-6-justice-department-dhs-jamie-raskin
ICE agents have killed a third protester in under a month in Minneapolis. Tensions are rising dangerously. Locals strongly oppose ICE – and the Department of Homeland Security ought to be keeping people safe, not attacking them https://www.axios.com/local/twin-cities/2026/01/24/minneapolis-shooting-federal-agent
The Justice Department is trying to silence journalists who are reporting on the protests against ICE. This breaches the 1st Amendment right to free speech and is just a pathetic attempt to silence criticism of ICE https://www.axios.com/2026/01/30/don-lemon-arrest-minnesota-church-ice-protest
The arrest and subsequent release of a 5 year-old boy has shone a spotlight on ICE. There was no “probable cause of a crime”, so a judge released the child. Traumatising a child to meet a deportation quota was both inhuman and illegal https://www.reuters.com/world/us/five-year-old-boy-detained-by-ice-has-returned-minnesota-lawmaker-says-2026-02-01/
Trump is continuing to ramp up deportations, despite the political backlash against ICE. It is also very costly. It is dangerous for political leaders to ignore the public mood, but he feels that he can do no wrong https://www.reuters.com/world/us/ice-spend-383-billion-detention-centers-across-us-document-shows-2026-02-13/
Trump's confrontational tactics in deporting immigrants have backfired, leading to a drop in his poll ratings – and now some Democrat States are withdrawing their cooperation https://apnews.com/article/immigration-ice-trump-287g-72929a61953c3da5ed5d49cab2dcc611
The real reason for Trump’s sacking of Kristi Noem is probably that ICE tactics have cost him support in the polls (although the official reason was that she had misquoted him) https://news.sky.com/story/kristi-noem-being-replaced-as-us-homeland-security-secretary-after-minnesota-ice-criticism-13515836
JD Vance has blamed a Southampton murder on the "mass invasion of migrants" (although the murderer was a Sikh born in Britain) and said the "only response" was "righteous anger". Does he advocate ICE tactics? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/crlplwn1jkro
President Trump has been weaponising immigration since his first term in office. One of his 2016 election slogans was “build a great wall”, as part of his MAGA propaganda (6.4.2.4). He increased his attacks on immigrants in his second term, with the hugely expanded department of Immigration Control and Enforcement (ICE). That policy remains popular with his base, but it is divisive. And it reduces his popularity overall, as tracked by a PatternsofPower.org tweet listing.
He and his team have extended their propaganda campaign to demonise immigrants to Europe. This has been shown by two separate incidents in the last week, involving senior American politicians:
As reported by Reuters: “U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth warned on Saturday that Europe faced what he called an invasion of dangerous ideologies arriving by sea, linking immigration to the legacy of the D-Day landings in remarks in Normandy.”
On the same day, it was reported that Downing Street hits out after Vance post about Henry Nowak, who, he said, would still be alive today "if the last few generations of European elites had stood their ground against the politics of self-hatred and the mass invasion of migrants". Novak had been murdered by a Sikh (who had been born British) in an incident which was immediately politicised by the US Vice President and Britain's Reform party.
When analysing why Trump has been weaponising immigration, it is worth looking at the emotion underpinning ‘Alt-right’ Nationalism (6.2.4.6). It is an extreme reaction to change: “a retreat to identity – such as race, religion, or nation – for the support of people like themselves”. Trump and other like-minded political leaders have seen how to exploit the emotions of people who are discontented, to form a group which seeks someone else to blame for their problems: the immigrants. Such a group will rally around a populist leader who offers to magically improve their situation.