President Donald Trump is believed to be ready to overhaul one of his most controversial departments following frank conversations with his wife and top aides.
Trump, 79, is said to have realized that his administration’s fixation on brutal ICE raids has become election poison and is planning a new approach.
A new report by The Wall Street Journal, citing sources close to the matter, says the penny has dropped for Trump that ICE had gone too far and that voters hate the term “mass deportation.”
The Journal says the new direction was inspired by conversations Trump had with his wife, Melania, 55, and some of his key advisers, including White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, 68.
Wiles reportedly believes the controversy around ICE raids, which saw federal agents shoot and kill American citizens Renee Good and Alex Pretti in January, has turned the issue of immigration and deportation toxic for voters ahead of the crucial midterm elections.
Trump would rather focus on arresting “bad guys” and wants less divisive chaos in American cities, according to the Journal’s report.
ICE would dump high-profile operations in Democrat-skewed cities like Minneapolis, Chicago and Washington, D.C., the publication claimed. Arrests of immigrants have dropped from over 1,500 a day to around 1,200, it added, citing people familiar.
In a statement to the Daily Beast, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson denied Trump was making any alterations to existing ICE policy.
“Nobody is changing the Administration’s immigration enforcement agenda. President Trump’s highest priority has always been the deportation of illegal alien criminals who endanger American communities,” Jackson said.
The statement said the DHS has deported around 70 percent of “illegal aliens” with criminal records.
“Thanks to President Trump’s strong immigration enforcement policies, approximately 3 million illegals have left the United States, either through forced deportation or self-deportation, with zero illegals coming through the most secure border in U.S. History for nine straight months.”
The report comes as Sen. Markwayne Mullin, Trump’s pick to replace failed Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, promised to transform the department’s tarnished public image.
Addressing the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Wednesday, Mullin, 48, said he hoped his unpopular department would slip off the media radar.
“My goal at six months is that we’re not in the lead story every single day,” Mullin said. “My goal is for people to understand we’re out there. We’re protecting them.”
He added he planned to work “every single day to not just secure our homeland, but bring peace of mind and confidence to the agency.”
Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, 64, admitted that former MMA fighter and plumber Mullin has been put in the role despite having no background in immigration enforcement.
“I can tell you that he’s focused on the mission,” Homan told Fox News on Wednesday.
“He’s counting on the experts who have done this job for decades to advise him on the next steps to take,” he added. “And that’s big. He don’t know the immigration game very well, but he’s counting on people with 30, 40 years of experience to guide him.”
