# Trump Second-Term Immigration Enforcement **Trump Second-Term Immigration Enforcement** is the second Trump administration's campaign to find, detain and deport immigrants living inside the United States, from January 2025 to the present. It is not a single operation. It is a continuous nationwide effort, coordinated by [[Tom Homan]], the White House "**border czar**," and shaped by [[Stephen Miller]], with a series of separately named city surges on top of it. The work is carried out by **[[Immigration and Customs Enforcement]]** (ICE) and other agencies of the [[Department of Homeland Security]] (DHS), including Border Patrol teams under commander [[Gregory Bovino]]. [[Kristi Noem]] ran DHS until Trump removed her on March 5, 2026; the Senate confirmed [[Markwayne Mullin]] as her successor on March 23, 2026, by a 54–45 vote. The campaign began in the administration's first week. ICE reported **538 arrests on January 23, 2025**, the first day it published daily figures, and **956 on January 26**, when a multi-agency push began in Chicago and other cities. Since then it has brought **more ICE field-office deployments**, including in sanctuary jurisdictions; **a large expansion of detention capacity**, paid for by the $175 billion in [[Big Beautiful Bill]] appropriations; **more removals to third countries**, along with removals to El Salvador's CECOT prison (see [[Kilmar Abrego Garcia CECOT]]); and **use of the U.S. military** in support of domestic enforcement. Its best-known phases are tied to particular cities: - **Los Angeles, June 2025.** ICE raids set off sustained protests. On **June 7, 2025**, Trump signed a memorandum **federalizing 2,000 California [[National Guard]] troops** under 10 U.S.C. § 12406, not the [[Insurrection Act]], and sent them to protect federal personnel and property in the Los Angeles area. It was the first time since 1965 that a president had federalized a state's Guard without the governor's request. On September 2, 2025, after a trial, a **federal judge ruled** that the way the troops were used violated the **[[Posse Comitatus Act]]**, the 1878 law that restricts use of the military for domestic law enforcement (see [[Newsom v. Trump]]). - **Chicago, from September 8, 2025.** [[Operation Midway Blitz]] brought a second Guard fight, which the Supreme Court settled against the administration in [[Trump v. Illinois]]. - **Portland, fall 2025.** A federal judge permanently barred the president from sending the Guard into the city (see [[Oregon v. Trump]]). - **San Francisco, October 2025.** Trump called off a planned surge of federal agents two days before it was due to begin (see [[San Francisco Federal Surge Reversal]]). - **Minneapolis, from December 2025.** [[Operation Metro Surge]], during which federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens in January 2026. The Los Angeles and Chicago Guard cases were the sharpest **clash between the executive and the courts** over domestic troop deployments in 2025. The campaign matters for two reasons. It carries out the approach of the [[Family Separation Policy]] on a much larger scale, and it brought federal troops into domestic enforcement over a governor's objection. Presidents have sent troops into American cities before (Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock in 1957, and George H. W. Bush invoked the [[Insurrection Act]] during the 1992 Los Angeles riots with the governor's support), but the June 2025 federalization was the first since 1965 made without the governor's request. Measured in arrests, detentions, deportations, family separations, its effect on sanctuary cities, and the change in how immigration enforcement is organized, it is one of the largest institutional changes of the second Trump administration. The enforcement approach directed by [[Stephen Miller]] and [[Tom Homan]] is far more aggressive than the first-term [[Family Separation Policy]] period, and it puts the **[[Project 2025]] priorities into practice**. ## How the campaign began (January–February 2025) The launch was timed to the administration's first week in office: - **January 20, 2025:** Trump signs several immigration executive orders (see [[2025 Inauguration and First Wave EOs]]) including the **national emergency declaration at the Southern border**, the **resumption of Migrant Protection Protocols ("Remain in Mexico")**, the **designation of Mexican drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations**, the **asylum-processing suspension**, and the **refugee admissions suspension** - **January 23, 2025:** ICE begins publishing daily enforcement figures, reporting **538 arrests** and 373 detainers for the day - **January 26, 2025:** ICE operations expand to **Chicago**, **Atlanta**, **Los Angeles**, **Austin**, **Colorado**, and **Puerto Rico**; **956 arrests** reported on January 26; **554 detainers** lodged - **February 2025:** Deployments widen; ICE field offices add many new staff The early weeks set off **large protests** in several states, particularly **California**, **Illinois**, **New York**, **Massachusetts**, and **Washington state**. The protests stayed contained through January and February 2025 but caused friction in sanctuary jurisdictions. ## How the campaign works The campaign works through six main mechanisms: **1. ICE field-office expansion.** The [[Big Beautiful Bill]]'s $45 billion ICE-expansion appropriation paid for large-scale ICE hiring, equipment purchases, and field-office growth through 2025–2026. As a result, ICE's capacity is **far larger than in the first term or the Biden years**. **2. Targeting sanctuary jurisdictions.** In July 2025 Homan said federal agents would "flood the zone" in sanctuary cities. ICE raids have been carried out in **Los Angeles**, **Chicago**, **New York City**, **Boston**, **Seattle**, **Denver**, **Minneapolis**, **Portland**, and other sanctuary jurisdictions, often against strong local non-cooperation that has caused friction. **3. Detention-capacity expansion.** The campaign has greatly expanded immigration-detention capacity, through new facilities (largely funded by [[Big Beautiful Bill]] appropriations) and through an arrangement to hold deportees in El Salvador's CECOT prison (see [[Kilmar Abrego Garcia CECOT]]). **4. Third-country removals.** The administration has sharply increased **third-country removals**, in which people are sent not to their home countries but to other countries. On March 15, 2025, it flew more than 200 Venezuelan men to El Salvador's CECOT prison, most of them under the [[Alien Enemies Act]]. In June 2025 the Supreme Court lifted a lower-court order that had required written notice and a chance to raise fears of torture before such removals, and flights followed to countries including South Sudan. Kilmar Abrego Garcia, sent to CECOT the same day as the Venezuelans, was not a third-country case: he is Salvadoran, and a 2019 immigration-court order had barred his removal to El Salvador. **5. Military deployment.** The campaign has used the **military** to support domestic enforcement, including the June 2025 federalization of the California National Guard, later Texas National Guard deployments in border areas, and sizable Marine Corps and Army deployments in support roles. **6. Asylum-system elimination.** The campaign has shut down the working capacity of the U.S. asylum system, through cuts to processing staff, longer processing times, policy restrictions, and the asylum-processing suspension ordered in the first-week executive orders. ## Los Angeles, June 2025 The campaign's most visible phase came in **June 2025**, when ICE raids across the **Los Angeles metropolitan area** set off sustained protests: - **June 6, 2025:** ICE conducts large workplace raids at several LA-area sites, including a Home Depot parking lot in Paramount, California, and the garment district in downtown Los Angeles - **June 6–7, 2025:** Protests begin in response to the raids, with large crowds in **Paramount**, **Compton**, **downtown LA**, and **East LA** - **June 7, 2025:** Some protests turn violent, with serious clashes between protesters and LAPD, vandalism of Waymo self-driving cars, and heavy property damage in some locations - **June 7, 2025 evening:** Trump signs a presidential memorandum **federalizing 2,000 California National Guard troops** under 10 U.S.C. § 12406 (he does not invoke the [[Insurrection Act]]) to protect federal personnel and property in Los Angeles; on June 9 he adds about 2,000 more Guard members and about 700 active-duty Marines - **June 8–9, 2025:** California Governor [[Gavin Newsom]] files federal lawsuit challenging the National Guard federalization; asked on June 9 about Homan arresting Newsom, **Trump says, "I would do it if I were Tom. I think it's great."** - **June 12, 2025:** U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer (Northern District of California) issues a **temporary restraining order** returning control of the Guard to Newsom, finding that the federalization exceeded the President's authority under § 12406 and violated the Tenth Amendment. The order does not decide the [[Posse Comitatus]] claim - **June 12–19, 2025:** The Ninth Circuit pauses the order within hours with an administrative stay, then on June 19 stays it pending appeal, allowing the deployment to continue - **September 2, 2025:** After an August trial, Breyer rules that using the federalized troops and Marines for law enforcement in Los Angeles violated the **Posse Comitatus Act** and bars similar use in California - **December 10, 2025:** Breyer orders the Los Angeles deployment ended and control of the remaining troops returned to the state (see [[Newsom v. Trump]]) In retrospect, the June 2025 Los Angeles confrontation was the **peak** of the campaign's first year and the **main case study** of the second Trump administration's use of military force against domestic protest and in immigration enforcement. ## Military deployments beyond the Guard Through 2025 and into 2026, the administration expanded military deployment well beyond the National Guard. The deployments include: - **Active-duty Marine Corps personnel** deployed to LA in support roles in June 2025 - **Army personnel** deployed to Texas border areas in expanded roles - **[[Coast Guard]]** deployed in large numbers for maritime interdiction - **Federal law-enforcement units with militarized roles** (Bureau of Prisons, [[U.S. Marshals Service]], Federal Protective Service) greatly expanded As a result, the **convention dating from the end of Reconstruction** against using the military for domestic law enforcement, codified in the **[[Posse Comitatus]] of 1878**, has been significantly eroded in practice even where it still stands in law. ## Chicago, September–December 2025 [[Operation Midway Blitz]], the Chicago-area surge, began on **September 8, 2025**, and produced the second Guard confrontation: - **September 8, 2025:** DHS launches Operation Midway Blitz in the Chicago area; large protests follow - **October 4–5, 2025:** Trump federalizes about 300 Illinois National Guard members under § 12406 to protect federal personnel and property, and Texas Guard members are federalized and sent to Chicago the next day; Illinois and Chicago sue, and Illinois Governor [[JB Pritzker]] opposes the deployment - **October 9, 2025:** U.S. District Judge [[April Perry]] issues a temporary restraining order blocking the deployment - **December 23, 2025:** In [[Trump v. Illinois]], the Supreme Court refuses, 6–3, to let the deployment go ahead, reading "regular forces" in § 12406 to mean the regular military rather than civilian law enforcement The Chicago ruling was the Supreme Court's first limit on § 12406 federalization. ## Portland and San Francisco, fall 2025 In **Portland, Oregon**, the administration sought to federalize 200 Oregon National Guard members. On **November 7, 2025**, U.S. District Judge [[Karin Immergut]] permanently blocked the deployment, finding that the president "did not have a lawful basis to federalize the National Guard" (see [[Oregon v. Trump]]). In **San Francisco**, Trump called off a planned surge of federal immigration agents on **October 23, 2025**, two days before it was due to begin, after calls from Mayor Daniel Lurie and two technology executives. No court was involved (see [[San Francisco Federal Surge Reversal]]). ## Minneapolis, December 2025–2026 [[Operation Metro Surge]] brought the campaign to **Minneapolis** in December 2025. In January 2026 federal agents shot and killed two U.S. citizens there: Renée Good, shot by an ICE officer, and Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse shot by Border Patrol agents on January 24 (see [[Renée Good Killing]] and [[Alex Pretti Killing]]). On January 26, Trump put Homan in charge of the Minnesota operation, reporting directly to the White House, and Bovino left the city. ## Consequences The campaign has had major consequences in several areas: ### The immigration-enforcement system The campaign is one of the biggest changes to how the U.S. enforces immigration law since the **[[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965]]**. It has turned immigration enforcement from a **regulatory system with selective enforcement** into a **military-style operation with blanket enforcement**. In effect, the post-1965 immigration system has been replaced by a different one. ### Federal-state tension The campaign has caused sustained **federal-state tension** with sanctuary jurisdictions. That includes wider use of federal grant conditions against sanctuary jurisdictions, federal prosecutions aimed at sanctuary-jurisdiction officials, and friction wherever local governments have refused to cooperate. ### Military-civil relations The campaign has significantly eroded the **convention dating from the end of Reconstruction** against using the military for domestic law enforcement. For the future of U.S. civil-military relations, it means that **using military force against domestic political protest** has been normalized. ### Constitutional litigation The campaign has prompted extensive constitutional litigation across several doctrines: birthright citizenship; due process in deportation proceedings; compliance with withholding-of-removal orders; application of the Posse Comitatus Act; and the rules for federal-state cooperation. The courts' response has been **mixed**: federal judges have blocked some practices and allowed others to continue. Overall, enforcement practice has grown a great deal without being reversed on constitutional grounds. ## The Through-Line | Strand | How the campaign connects | |--------|--------------------------| | [[Family Separation Policy]] (April 2018) | The first-term template the campaign carries out on a much larger scale; [[Stephen Miller]] and [[Tom Homan]] were central figures in both periods | | [[2025 Inauguration and First Wave EOs]] (January 2025) | The restructuring orders the campaign works within | | [[Big Beautiful Bill]] (July 2025) | The $175 billion immigration-enforcement appropriation that funds the expansion | | [[Kilmar Abrego Garcia CECOT]] | The best-known wrongful removal of the campaign: a Salvadoran man sent to El Salvador despite a court order barring it, which the government called an "administrative error" | | [[Lafayette Square Bible Photo Op]] (June 2020) | The first-term template for using the military against domestic protest; the June 2025 LA phase is the second-term version on a much larger scale | | [[Project 2025]] | The policy blueprint whose Chapter 5 (Department of Homeland Security) and Chapter 17 (Department of Justice) the campaign puts into practice | | [[Insurrection Act]]-adjacent authorities | The legal authority the campaign invokes for military deployment | | [[Posse Comitatus]] of 1878 | The law the campaign's military deployments erode | | [[Tom Homan]] | The operational lead; acting ICE director in the first term (2017–2018) and White House "border czar" in the second | | [[Stephen Miller]] | The policy architect; central to immigration policy in both terms | | [[Trump II]] governance (2025–) | The campaign is one of the main policy areas of the second term | ## Legacy In 2026, the campaign is the **most consequential immigration-enforcement effort in modern American history** and one of the largest institutional changes of the second Trump administration. Its effects (arrests, detentions, third-country removals, military deployments, friction with sanctuary jurisdictions, and a new way of organizing immigration enforcement) show clearly how far the second Trump administration has departed from earlier administrations. Over the longer arc, the campaign is the [[Family Separation Policy]]'s approach **carried out at scale**. The underlying policy idea, that visible cruelty in immigration enforcement deters future migration while also mobilizing supporters, now operates on a much larger scale in the second term. For U.S. immigration, the post-1965 system has been replaced; the post-2025 system runs on different principles. The broader pattern: **policy goals the right has held for decades can be carried out on a much larger scale once the institutions to deliver them are in place**. Those institutions had been building since at least the 1980s; the 2024 election supplied the mandate; the campaign is the result. The changes will likely last well beyond the 2028 election cycle, whatever the outcome of later elections, because the rebuilt institutions are themselves the lasting result. ## See Also - [[Donald Trump]] — President; directing political figure - [[Stephen Miller]] — Senior adviser; policy architect - [[Tom Homan]] — Border czar; operational lead - [[Kash Patel]] — FBI Director; a figure in the wider enforcement effort - [[Operation Midway Blitz]] — The Chicago surge, from September 2025 - [[Operation Metro Surge]] — The Minneapolis surge, from December 2025 - [[Newsom v. Trump]] · [[Trump v. Illinois]] · [[Oregon v. Trump]] — The Guard federalization cases - [[Family Separation Policy]] (April 2018) — First-term template - [[Kilmar Abrego Garcia CECOT]] — Wrongful-removal case study - [[2025 Inauguration and First Wave EOs]] — The restructuring orders - [[Big Beautiful Bill]] — Funding - [[Lafayette Square Bible Photo Op]] (June 2020) — First-term military-deployment template - [[Project 2025]] — Policy blueprint - [[Heritage Foundation]] — Policy infrastructure - [[Movement Conservatism]] — Coalition whose policy agenda the campaign carries out - [[National Guard Federalization Flow]] — the structural map of the federalization authority the Guard deployments ran on, and the litigation they produced