If reporting from NBC News is to be believed, President Trump’s pledges to deport record numbers of illegal immigrants contain more bark than bite.
Video of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arresting suspected illegals are all over television and the internet. “But here is the surprising fact behind the mayhem,” wrote Fareed Zakaria in a Washington Post column. “Donald Trump has deported fewer people per month than Barack Obama did, and barely more than Joe Biden during a similar span last year, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement data obtained by NBC News.”
The Trump administration is arresting the most suspected immigration violators in at least five years, but has deported an average of only 14,700 people per month since February, NBC said. That’s well below the statistics during President Obama’s eight years, when 3.1 million people here illegally were sent away, an average of 387,500 per year — or 32,291 per month.
Now, there are some red flags when comparing the two numbers. It could be that a lot of the Obama deportations were at the Mexican border instead of arresting people all over the country the way Trump’s people have done. Also, Trump’s few months of his second term are not a valid comparison to Obama’s eight years. Finally, the Trump numbers ought to rise, given the number of suspects already held and the billions of dollars on the way to ICE.
Still, Zakaria makes a good point: “Trump has prioritized optics over outcomes. What his administration lacks in strategy, it tries to compensate for with spectacle.”
It’s true. The president always wants to provide a good show. It might be entertaining, but so far it isn’t delivering anything like the results that Obama did. That’s what the numbers say. It bears repeating, for about the third time in this space: Trump’s problems are not so much what he’s doing, but the way he’s doing it.
Here’s something more surprising than the comparison of arrests and deportations: The prioritized optics of today’s immigration enforcement are unsettling more Americans.
Zakaria cited polls that show a majority of the public opposes Trump on immigration. Even more surprisingly, the percentage of Americans who see immigration as a good thing is rising. Support for a pathway to citizenship for long-term illegal residents, for example, was close to 80% in one poll.
Both parties have fumbled immigration. Democrats, lest we forget, were all about defunding ICE just a few years ago, and President Biden tolerated lax border enforcement too often during his four years. Such silliness alienated much of the country, as Zakaria wrote.
“This is the litmus test for Trump,” he added. “Is he actually interested in solving America’s immigration problem? Or does he prefer it as a political cudgel?” On the other side, can Democrats work toward the middle for a competent and humane solution?
Smart politics by both sides could solve this: Overhaul and tighten the rules for requesting asylum. Long-term residents here illegally who have not committed crimes, have a job and pay taxes should be considered for eventual citizenship. And high-skilled immigrants should be encouraged to move here.
Most people reading this are descended from foreigners who came to America, either of free will or by force. We are a nation of immigrants. But we are also a nation of laws, including those that require new residents to enter legally.
Zakaria believes the polls say America is ready for an immigration solution. Are its leaders?
