A coalition of longtime Trump allies, immigration restrictionist groups and hawkish policy experts have formed the Mass Deportation Coalition to lobby the Trump administration to refocus its deportation efforts on all eligible migrants, not just those convicted of violent crimes.
The group includes Mark Morgan, former acting commissioner of Customs and Border Protection under Trump; Erik Prince, a Trump ally and former Blackwater CEO; as well as conservative organizations including the Heritage Foundation, Federation for American Immigration Reform, American Moment and the Claremont Institute. The coalition has commissioned polling from McLaughlin & Associates, a pollster Trump has used in all his presidential campaigns.
What the Right Is Saying
Coalition members argue that a deportation strategy targeting only violent criminals, gang members or terrorists is a 'Clinton-Obama-Biden policy' that has been a 'disastrous failure.'
"Overwhelmingly, Trump voters expect this from the administration. They don't just support it, they expect it," said Chris Chmielenski, president of the Immigration Accountability Project. "This is a good way to re-energize the base as we move into the midterms, the same way that Trump was able to do so in the lead up to the 2024 general election."
Mark Morgan, who also served as chief of the U.S. Border Patrol under both former President Barack Obama and Trump, said targeting only criminals for deportation is not a winning policy. The coalition argues their approach will ensure GOP victories in November's midterm elections.
What the Left Is Saying
Progressive critics and some Democratic lawmakers have argued that the mass deportation campaign has gone too far. Following ICE operations in Minnesota that killed two U.S. citizens, Democrats have called for a more targeted approach focusing only on those who pose violent threats.
A January POLITICO poll found that nearly half of U.S. adults say Trump's mass deportation campaign is too aggressive, including 1 in 5 of his own 2024 voters. A February NPR/PBS/Marist poll found that 65% of U.S. adults think Immigration and Customs Enforcement has gone too far in enforcing immigration laws.
White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair has instructed House Republicans to curb their hardline rhetoric and focus on removing violent criminals. In a post on X, Blair wrote that Republicans are focused on 'deporting the violent/criminal illegals that Joe Biden & the Democrats in Congress let in.'
What the Numbers Show
The McLaughlin & Associates poll commissioned by the coalition found that 66% of likely 2026 voters support deporting any migrants who enter the country illegally. When asked if they support deporting all deportable migrants, not just violent criminals, 58% say they do.
Among Trump 2024 voters surveyed, 87% want the president to exceed the previous largest deportation effort in history, led in the 1950s by former President Dwight D. Eisenhower. This includes 79% of Hispanic Trump voters who share this view.
However, other polling presents a different picture. The January POLITICO poll showed 50% of U.S. adults consider the deportation campaign too aggressive. The February NPR/PBS/Marist poll found 65% of adults believe ICE has gone too far.
According to a White House statement, approximately 70% of deportations to date have been of individuals with criminal records. The administration says roughly 3 million unauthorized immigrants have left the U.S. through forced deportation or self-deportation, and no illegal border crossings have occurred for nine straight months.
The Bottom Line
The Mass Deportation Coalition is working to convince the Trump administration to maintain a broad deportation agenda, arguing it is essential to Republican electoral success in November. Meanwhile, the administration has shifted its public messaging toward focusing on violent criminals while other Republicans warn the current approach could hurt the party's chances of retaining control of Congress. The competing polling data suggests public opinion on deportation policy remains divided, with significant variation depending on how questions are framed.