Top Trump aide Stephen Miller and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem demanded that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) bump up their deportation numbers to 3,000 per day during a tense meeting last week.
Two sources told Axios that Miller and Noem took a hard line during the meeting, suggesting that some could lose their jobs if they did not reach these numbers.
Why it matters: The new target is triple the number of daily arrests that agents were making in the early days of Trump's term — and suggests the president's top immigration officials are full-steam ahead in pushing for mass deportations.
The increased pressure on agents comes as border-crossing numbers have plummeted in Trump's first four months. It signals an increasingly aggressive approach to making arrests in non-border communities nationwide.
It also comes as the Trump administration's heavy-handed tactics in rounding up unauthorized immigrants — and in some cases, legal residents and even U.S. citizens — appear to have contributed to President Trump's slipping poll numbers on immigration.
Zoom in: Miller, the White House's deputy chief of staff and leading architect of President Trump's immigration policy, laid into top immigration officials during the May 21 meeting at Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) headquarters in D.C., according to four people familiar with the meeting.
BREAKING - Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, backed by DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, held a meeting where he tore into immigration officials, demanding 3,000 deportations per day and no less, that left them shaken and fearing for their jobs.
— Right Angle News Network (@Rightanglenews) May 28, 2025
The report suggests that Noem took a “milder approach” in asking ICE to deport more illegal immigrants. Still, Miller’s tone caused at least some to fear losing their jobs if they could not reach this objective. It also notes that ICE currently has nearly 49,000 people in custody. The Trump administration’s numbers are comparable to those under former President Joe Biden.
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It’s worth noting that one of the reasons why Trump’s deportation numbers aren’t as high as expected is that the rate of illegal immigrants trying to cross the border plummeted shortly after he was elected.
Since taking office in his second term, President Trump aggressively ramped up immigration enforcement. He issued a series of executive orders aimed at getting the border crisis under control and removing illegal immigrants who committed violent crimes. The Migration Policy Institute issued a report in April noting that deportations under Trump are not meeting the 1 million per-year goal. However, arrests and detentions have surged.
Trump’s immigration policies have met with a myriad of legal challenges coming from Democrats seeking to hamper his agenda. Several federal judges have ruled against his executive orders as the White House continues its efforts to remove illegal immigrants from the country.
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