Trump Should Be As Dedicated To Deportations As He Is To Iran War
The piece argues that Donald Trump’s long-standing opposition to “forever wars” remains central to his political appeal, a stance he reportedly kept during his first term.It notes that public opinion on a potential Iran operation is unclear until its objectives are defined, and quotes Trump saying he won’t let polling dictate his actions, insisting Iran must not obtain a nuclear weapon. The article then critiques Trump’s handling of immigration enforcement, describing how federal operations in Minnesota were scaled back after confrontations with state authorities and intense media coverage, suggesting this signals that blue states can obstruct federal enforcement and may embolden similar actions elsewhere. It acknowledges ongoing immigration enforcement efforts but implies their visibility is influenced by public opinion. It also criticizes the Biden administration’s immigration policy as lax, citing data on terror watchlist encounters and Iranian nationals crossing the border and, in many cases, being released. The piece provocatively argues that mass deportations of illegal immigrants are the ethical counterpart to aggressive action abroad, tying domestic policy to the same hardline approach it advocates for foreign policy.The author is Hayden Daniel, a staff editor at The Federalist.
One of the pillars of President Donald Trump’s political platform for the last decade has been a resistance to the “forever wars” that defined the neocon George W. Bush era and continued under Barack Obama. That stance has been very popular with the MAGA base, and he generally stuck to that philosophy during his first term.
It’s far too early to rely on polling, and we most likely won’t get a clear picture of the American public’s opinion on the war until its objectives become clear. If it is a smash-and-grab like the operation against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro back in January, Americans will most likely see it as another successful foreign policy feather in Trump’s cap. But if it turns into another Middle East quagmire, it will almost certainly lose support in short order.
But, according to Trump, it doesn’t matter which way the polls go.
He told the New York Post on Monday that “I think that the polling is very good, but I don’t care about polling. I have to do the right thing. I have to do the right thing. This should have been done a long time ago.”
“I don’t think the polling is low,” he continued. “Look, whether polling is low or not, I think the polling is probably fine. But it’s not a question of polling. You cannot let Iran, who’s a nation that has been run by crazy people, have a nuclear weapon.”
If only Trump had said the same thing about ICE’s operations in Minneapolis.
While Trump claims to not care about polling on the new Iranian war, he certainly seemed to care about bad PR surrounding his efforts to fulfill another cornerstone of his platform: strict immigration enforcement.
Under pressure after weeks of riots and the deaths of two anti-ICE agitators, the Trump administration decided to compromise in Minnesota, which had blatantly defied federal authority to enforce immigration law. An already hostile press went into overdrive to capitalize on the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti and demonize the Minneapolis operation, hoping to turn public opinion, which had been largely supportive of deportations, against the president’s signature campaign promise. That strategy seems to have worked.
Following calls with (and likely empty promises from) Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz and Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, Trump decided to scale down the federal presence in the state. Last month, the administration said the operation was ending altogether. The whole situation illustrated that blue states could foment violent action against federal immigration law enforcement and actively impede the legitimate enforcement of federal immigration law, and the president would offer them a deal. And the administration’s retreat has inspired Democrats in other states and cities to follow Minnesota’s example.
Other immigration enforcement operations are still ongoing across the country, but they’re decidedly in the background. Immigration officers have arrested some of the most vile criminals imaginable, yet publicity of these valiant efforts seems to rely on the whim of public opinion. The full compendium of these horrific acts that have taken place on American soil and have been abetted by previous administrations is nothing less than terrorism. Terrorism against normal Americans that has been facilitated by their own government.
The Biden administration’s disastrous immigration policies, or more aptly the lack thereof, allowed millions to flood into the country. Among those who poured in, there were plenty of rapists, murderers, and even suspected terrorists. And they’ve wrought death and destruction. And this is not to mention the economic and cultural damage that has been done to this country by the sudden influx of millions of foreigners who do not respect or possess American values.
According to a report from the House Judiciary Committee, Border Patrol encountered 250 people on the terror watchlist trying to cross the southwest border from fiscal year 2021 to the end of fiscal year 2023. Of those, 99 were released into the United States. From fiscal year 2021 to fiscal year 2024, more than 1,500 Iranian nationals were arrested, with 729 being released into our country, a senior border protection source told Fox News.
The mass deportation of illegal immigrants is every bit as righteous and “the right thing” to do as Trump claims bombing Iran is. If Trump truly doesn’t care about polling on the Iran war, then he shouldn’t care about polling when it comes to ICE deportations. While the U.S. military works to remove evil Third Worlders from Iran, there are plenty of evil Third Worlders within our own borders who need to be dealt with.
Hayden Daniel is a staff editor at The Federalist. He previously worked as an editor at The Daily Wire and as deputy editor/opinion editor at The Daily Caller. He received his B.A. in European History from Washington and Lee University with minors in Philosophy and Classics. Follow him on Twitter at @HaydenWDaniel
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