By Daily Caller Staff, Daily Caller News Foundation | April 22, 2025
Daily Caller White House Correspondent Reagan Reese pressed White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on how the Trump administration plans to boost deportations of illegal immigrants despite recent setbacks.
Leavitt defended the administration’s approach to immigration enforcement by underscoring their determination to deport illegal criminals “at record speed” despite acknowledging the temporary legal hurdle of the U.S. Supreme Court order Saturday pausing deportations of Tren de Aragua members under the Alien Enemies Act.
“We are obviously complying with the court’s order,” the press secretary said. “However, it was a temporary pause. The Supreme Court basically said ‘sit tight’ and they will follow up with an order.”
Leavitt said the administration remains “confident” that the nation’s highest court will ultimately rule that the president has the executive authority to remove foreign nationals deemed threats to national security.
“As for deportations, we continue to deport illegal criminals under Title 8, which is an immigration authority given to our border patrol agents and the Department of Homeland Security [DHS] to deport illegal criminals from this country,” the press secretary added. “And the administration continues to do that at record speed, as quickly as they can, with the resources that they have.”
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data from March obtained by NBC News revealed that deportations slightly decreased compared to the same period last year. From March 1 to March 28, ICE deported a little over 12,300 people, down from around 12,700 in the same timeframe last year. Approximately 11,000 people were deported from the U.S. in February.
The Trump administration has emphasized self-deportations as a means of reducing the number of illegal immigrants in the country, rather than having to forcibly deport them all.
The administration launched a multimillion-dollar ad campaign featuring DHS Secretary Kristi Noem warning of consequences for those who overstay deportation orders. Additionally, the CBP One App has been replaced by CBP Home, allowing immigrants to inform authorities of their plans to self-deport, according to a screenshot from DHS obtained by the DCNF.
Daily Caller Staff of the Daily Caller News Foundation wrote this piece.
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