{"id":2557139,"date":"2026-01-29T14:59:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-29T19:59:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/you-cant-have-a-secure-border-without-deportations-24\/"},"modified":"2026-01-29T15:01:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-29T20:01:37","slug":"you-cant-have-a-secure-border-without-deportations-24","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/you-cant-have-a-secure-border-without-deportations-24\/","title":{"rendered":"You Can&#8217;t Have A Secure Border Without Deportations"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fyou-cant-have-a-secure-border-without-deportations-24%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2557139&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The piece argues that calls to pause or end deportation operations after the Border Patrol shooting of anti-ICE activist Alex pretti are dangerous and would undermine the Trump administration\u2019s broader immigration-enforcement strategy. Criticisms from Democrats, some Republicans, and parts of the media are portrayed as ignoring that deportations are the primary punishment for illegal entry and the most effective deterrent to future crossings. The author credits Trump-era measures \u2014 a national emergency declaration, military deployment to the border, changes to CBP One, mass hiring of ICE agents, expanded expedited removals, and partnerships with local law enforcement \u2014 with producing dramatic drops in crossings, but says those gains rely on deportations being carried out at scale. Removing or hollowing out deportations would, the piece warns, nullify immigration law, embolden cartels and smugglers, erase deterrents that make smuggling costly, and reward sanctuary jurisdictions that obstruct federal enforcement. The article concludes that political pressure to \u201cde-escalate\u201d must be resisted and deportations must continue. The author is Joshua Monnington of The Federalist.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>In the wake of the Border Patrol shooting of <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/SteveGuest\/status\/2016610715075809552?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">anti-ICE agitator Alex Pretti<\/a>, Democrats &mdash; and many Republicans &mdash; are utilizing his death to call for a &ldquo;de-escalation&rdquo; or a complete end of deportation operations while pushing, yet again, for so-called &ldquo;comprehensive immigration reform.&rdquo; But these politicians and pundits persistently ignore the reality that taking deportations at scale off the table undermines the entire immigration law enforcement framework President Donald Trump has so successfully implemented during his second term.<\/p>\n<p>Prominent among the anti-deportation voices are, of course, Democrats Tim Walz and Jacob Frey (and their anti-ICE insurgency cells), but their numbers also include GOP Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/01\/27\/opinion\/republicans-minneapolis-immigration-trump.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Mike Lawler<\/a> and editors at <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wsj.com\/opinion\/time-for-ice-to-pause-in-minneapolis-e9ecf097?mod=author_content_page_1_pos_11\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">The Wall Street Journal<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2026\/01\/25\/opinion\/what-trumps-next-move-needs-to-be-in-minneapolis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">New York Post<\/a>, along with <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/BillMelugin_\/status\/2016262600158544291?s=20\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Problem Solvers Caucus leaders<\/a> Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Penn., and Rep. Tom Souzzi, D-N.Y., and a cacophony of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2026\/01\/26\/politics\/republican-concerns-trump-immigration-minnesota\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">usual<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonpost.com\/opinions\/2026\/01\/25\/minneapolis-immigration-killing-government-shutdown-ice-alex-pretti\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">legacy media<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/commentisfree\/2026\/jan\/26\/alex-pretti-minneapolis-shooting\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">suspects<\/a>. WSJ editors warned that Trump&rsquo;s deportation campaign has become &ldquo;a moral and political debacle.&rdquo; The editorial board at the Post directed Trump to &ldquo;de-escalate,&rdquo; because &ldquo;these enforcement tactics won&rsquo;t turn the tide.&rdquo; Lawler bemoaned federal agents &ldquo;conducting forceful operations in American communities.&rdquo; (Are they just supposed to ask nicely?)<\/p>\n<p>Lawler and the Problem Solvers followed up their anti-deportation admonitions with the same types of ineffectual immigration reform suggestions that proved to be the kryptonite of the obsessively pro-immigration Republicans Trump bludgeoned on his way to the White House. (Byron York of Washington Examiner provided a thorough debunking of these sorts of measures in his daily <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtonexaminer.com\/daily-memo\/4436338\/using-the-minneapolis-violence-to-push-immigration-reform\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">newsletter<\/a>.)<\/p>\n<p>As is commonly the case with America&rsquo;s political and pundit classes, these &ldquo;experts&rdquo; overlook or deliberately ignore a basic and obvious reality in their rush to advance their agendas on the backs of the fallout from Minnesota&rsquo;s anti-ICE obstructionism and sanctuary policies: Deportation is the primary penalty for unlawfully entering the United States, and it&rsquo;s also the most effective deterrent to would-be illegal border-crossers.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, there are other consequences. Prosecutions for first-time illegal entrants are a somewhat <a href=\"https:\/\/tracreports.org\/tracreports\/bulletins\/immigration\/monthlysep25\/fil\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">rare possibility<\/a> (<a href=\"https:\/\/tracreports.org\/whatsnew\/email.250603.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">with apparently little consequence<\/a>). Repeat offenders <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ussc.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/pdf\/research-and-publications\/quick-facts\/Illegal_Reentry_FY24.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">can get away with<\/a> something like a year in prison if caught, convicted, and sentenced, though <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >repeated illegal crossings typically coincide<\/a> with other criminal activity like drug smuggling and human trafficking, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sdtx\/pr\/repeat-offender-felon-sentenced-five-years-illegal-reentry-us\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">which leads to<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-sdtx\/pr\/armed-repeat-illegal-alien-handed-five-year-prison-sentence-human-smuggling-and\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">longer prison sentences<\/a>. The vast majority of illegal aliens apprehended at the border &mdash; at least under the Trump administration &mdash; are simply denied entry or returned to their home country (or another country willing to take them) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.usa.gov\/deportation-process\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">courtesy<\/a> of the U.S. taxpayer. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.law.cornell.edu\/uscode\/text\/8\/1325\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Fines and bans<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cbsnews.com\/news\/what-is-title-8-immigration-law-vs-title-42-border-policy\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">reentry could come into play<\/a>, and, of course, the person trying to enter America legally has wasted the money he scraped together <a href=\"https:\/\/homeland.house.gov\/2023\/12\/14\/now-nobody-crosses-without-paying-senior-border-patrol-agents-describe-unprecedented-cartel-control-at-southwest-border\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">to pay cartels<\/a> to smuggle him in. <\/p>\n<p>But all of that amounts to law enforcement having one hand tied behind its back if an illegal alien sneaking his way into the States and taking up residency in a Democrat-led sanctuary city (or really anywhere, if amnesty advocates have their way) has essentially made himself invulnerable to the enforcement powers of the executive branch. Once you&rsquo;re in, you&rsquo;re <em>in<\/em> &mdash; and it&rsquo;s obvious to all thinking people how that incentive structure will play out. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.city-journal.org\/article\/oregon-british-columbia-portugal-drug-decriminalization\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Crises<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/manhattan.institute\/article\/not-taking-crime-seriously-californias-prop-47-exacerbated-crime-and-drug-abuse\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">in places<\/a> like Portland, Oregon, and in California following the defanging of the justice system serve as illustrations of how particular crimes rise when authorities remove deterrents.<\/p>\n<p>Border security measures essentially function as crime prevention, catching the would-be entrant in the act. Deportations are the just punishment for the crime of illegal immigration. Eliminating deportations from the toolbelt of federal law enforcement would be as illogical as a legal system in which authorities stop would-be vandals, thieves, arsonists, and rapists if caught in the act but casually &ldquo;let bygones be bygones&rdquo; if they aren&rsquo;t able to prevent it. (Unsurprisingly, this is actually a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thenation.com\/article\/society\/why-i-didnt-report-my-rape\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">position<\/a> some leftists hold.)<\/p>\n<p>Eliminating deportations, or, as is more likely, stripping them down to a mere performative husk of efficacy, would mean the nullification of immigration law &mdash; regardless of the fervor with which federal authorities apply other methods. Deportations work. While canny consumers of legacy media content will rightly dismiss much of the &ldquo;huddling at home for fear of ICE&rdquo; <a href=\"https:\/\/myfox8.com\/news\/north-carolina\/charlotte\/over-20000-students-were-absent-from-school-in-charlotte-on-monday-amid-border-patrol-operation\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">messaging<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/heres-immigration-enforcement-affecting-school-enrollment-districts\/story?id=128057477\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">as<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/01\/27\/us\/maine-ice-immigrant-students.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">propaganda<\/a>, there are nuggets of truth to be inferred: Illegal immigrants desperately want to avoid deportations. Democrats desperately want to prevent them. In fact, deportations change the entire calculus of unlawfully entering the United States and helping oneself to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/you-cant-have-a-secure-border-without-deportations-2\/\" title=\"You Can&#039;t Have A Secure ... Without ...s\">government-funded gravy train<\/a> of &ldquo;resources.&rdquo; They make breaking U.S. law legitimately risky. <\/p>\n<p>The aforementioned cartel smuggling fees are a paramount example of this risk. For its services, cartels often demand <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcdfw.com\/investigations\/migrants-texas-dps-border-smuggling-price-increase\/3778088\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">upward<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/homeland.house.gov\/2023\/12\/14\/now-nobody-crosses-without-paying-senior-border-patrol-agents-describe-unprecedented-cartel-control-at-southwest-border\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">of $10,000<\/a>. As noted earlier, the risk of losing that sum in a failed attempt at illegal entry comes into play at the border. But deportations mean the entire amount is <em>continually<\/em> in danger &mdash; even after the illegal immigrant has settled into a sanctuary city for weeks, months, or years. The number of individuals willing to sink what amounts to a life&rsquo;s savings into smuggling fees drops drastically when deportations could make the &ldquo;investment&rdquo; all worthless in a moment.<\/p>\n<p>Yes, all the other things Trump has done have made a massive difference. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/presidential-actions\/2025\/01\/declaring-a-national-emergency-at-the-southern-border-of-the-united-states\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Declaring<\/a> a national emergency at the border. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.northcom.mil\/BorderSecurity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Deploying<\/a> the military to the southern border. Transforming the CBP One app from an engine of <a href=\"https:\/\/homeland.house.gov\/2025\/02\/19\/border-brief-the-trump-effect-is-here\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">mass parole<\/a> into a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.gov\/cbphome\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">self-deportation tool<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.gov\/news\/2026\/01\/20\/dhs-sets-stage-another-historic-record-breaking-year-under-president-trump\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Partnering<\/a> with more than 1,000 different state and local law enforcement groups. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dhs.gov\/news\/2026\/01\/20\/dhs-sets-stage-another-historic-record-breaking-year-under-president-trump#:~:text=Within%20hours%20of%20the%20November,for%20aliens%20from%20every%20presidentially\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hiring<\/a> 12,000 more Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.migrationpolicy.org\/article\/trump-expedited-removal\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Expanding<\/a> expedited removals. And generally <a href=\"https:\/\/nypost.com\/2025\/06\/17\/us-news\/border-agents-didnt-release-a-single-illegal-migrant-into-the-us-last-month-border-patrol\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">denying<\/a> would-be illegal immigrants entry at the southern border instead of simply releasing nearly all of them into the United States, <a href=\"https:\/\/judiciary.house.gov\/sites\/evo-subsites\/republicans-judiciary.house.gov\/files\/evo-media-document\/2024-04-16-How-the-Biden-Administration%27s-Lax-Immigration-Enforcement-Allows-Dangerous-Criminal-Aliens-to-Run-Free-in-American-C.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">as Biden did<\/a>.<\/p>\n<div>\n<figure><figcaption><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>These measures have achieved astonishing success <em>in conjunction with mass deportations. <\/em>The numbers illustrated in the charts above manifest in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/residents-border-towns-relieved-quiet-record-low-migrant-crossings-rcna236200\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">quiet border towns<\/a> that are ghost-like after the stampede of the Biden years. A shelter in Texas is now <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2026\/01\/19\/us\/politics\/sister-norma-pimentel-shelter-texas.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">focused<\/a> on care for the locals: Having &ldquo;not seen a single migrant in months,&rdquo; &ldquo;the staff and volunteers &hellip; have pivoted to help residents of McAllen, one of the poorest cities in America, with a population of about 150,000.&rdquo; Trump <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pbs.org\/newshour\/nation\/14000-u-s-bound-migrants-have-returned-south-since-trumps-border-changes-un-says\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">has sparked<\/a> a &ldquo;reverse flow&rdquo; of migration, as the United Nations reports a 97 percent drop in &ldquo;northward migration.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But these border measures are incomplete in and of themselves and will be vulnerable to erosion if the Trump administration reneges on its commitment to mass deportations, which simply means effective deportations at scale in a country where the illegal immigrant population is in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pewresearch.org\/race-and-ethnicity\/2025\/08\/21\/u-s-unauthorized-immigrant-population-reached-a-record-14-million-in-2023\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">tens of millions<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Abandoning deportations would be a capitulation to Democrat demands when doing so has the potential to do massive damage to the rule of law across the country. The Biden administration chose to open wide the country&rsquo;s borders, ushering in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/news\/2025\/jan\/14\/joe-biden-ends-term-nearly-11-million-illegal-bord\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">10 million or more<\/a> illegal immigrants. Sanctuary city leaders welcomed them and inflamed the crisis by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/you-cant-have-a-secure-border-without-deportations\/\" title=\"You Can&#039;t Have A Secure ... Without ...s\">vilifying federal law enforcement agents<\/a> instead of cooperating with them. (Even The New York Times <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/interactive\/2025\/12\/22\/us\/trump-immigration-deportation-network-ice-arrests.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">plainly admits <\/a>that &ldquo;in-community&rdquo; arrests are due to the uncooperative policies of blue cities and states.) Further, Anti-ICE insurgent groups are now so invested in opposing immigration law that Tren de Aragua could be holed up in a Minneapolis drug house with submachine guns and a crate of RPGs, and there would be agitators outside blowing whistles and harassing Border Patrol agents who showed up. <\/p>\n<p>Trump shouldn&rsquo;t allow Democrats like Walz and Frey &mdash; and the on-the-ground insurgents they encourage and support &mdash; to dictate terms on such an important national policy issue. The same is true of Republicans who agree with them. Deportations must continue.<\/p>\n<figure>\n<p><span><\/p>\n<blockquote data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<div lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\n<p>It doesn&rsquo;t matter how bad, how obnoxious, how violent the left gets, there will always be some that look for the first reaction from the right as the excuse to capitulate to the left&rsquo;s demands. <\/p>\n<p>When will they learn? It&rsquo;s a tactic. The left is constantly escalating until they&hellip;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>&mdash; Nick Freitas (@NickJFreitas) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NickJFreitas\/status\/2016487676384325716?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">January 28, 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><\/span> <\/p>\n<\/figure>\n<hr>\n<p>      Joshua Monnington is an assistant editor at The Federalist. He was previously an editor at Regnery Publishing and is a graduate of Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Calls to halt deportations ignore enforcement harms<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3134,"featured_media":2557140,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Copy-of-Untitled-10.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[70102,8675,3813,70100],"class_list":["post-2557139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-border-security-2","tag-deportations","tag-immigration","tag-immigration-policy-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Copy-of-Untitled-10.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2557139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3134"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2557139"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2557139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2557143,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2557139\/revisions\/2557143"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2557140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2557139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2557139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2557139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}