Trump Orders ICE to Ramp Up Deportations in Major “Blue” Cities, Unfazed by Protests

WASHINGTON D.C. – In a bold move that’s sure to ignite further controversy, President Donald Trump has directed federal immigration authorities to focus their deportation efforts squarely on Democratic-led cities.¹ This directive comes on the heels of widespread protests, particularly in major hubs like Los Angeles, condemning his administration’s immigration policies.

On Sunday, President Trump took to social media, urging U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials to “do all in their power to achieve the very important goal of delivering the single largest Mass Deportation Program in History.”² He explicitly called for expanded efforts to “detain and deport Illegal Aliens in America’s largest Cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where Millions upon Millions of Illegal Aliens reside.”³

This declaration from the President signals an intensification of enforcement, following weeks of increased immigration activity.⁴ It also aligns with recent statements from Stephen Miller, a key architect of Trump’s immigration agenda, who had previously indicated that ICE officers would aim for an ambitious 3,000 arrests per day – a significant jump from the roughly 650 daily arrests seen in the first five months of Trump’s second term.⁵

Protests Flare as Policies Shift

The President’s directive arrives amidst a backdrop of escalating protests across the nation against federal immigration enforcement raids. Demonstrators took to the streets as part of the “no kings” movement on Saturday, coinciding with a massive parade in Washington celebrating the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army.⁶

While many of Saturday’s protests remained peaceful, some notably turned confrontational. In Los Angeles, police resorted to tear gas and crowd-control munitions to disperse demonstrators after an event concluded.⁷ Similarly, officers in Portland, Oregon, deployed tear gas and projectiles to break up a crowd protesting outside an ICE building late into the evening.

President Trump made his social media announcement as he was en route to the Group of Seven (G7) economic summit in Alberta, Canada. Before his departure from the White House, he suggested to reporters that the peaceful nature of the Los Angeles protests was directly attributable to his decision to have National Guard troops “on call and ready,” stating, “If we didn’t have the National Guard on call and ready, they would rip Los Angeles apart.”

An Industry Alarm

This intensified focus on deportations in Democratic cities also highlights a dilemma for the Trump administration: the impact of aggressive enforcement on key industries reliant on undocumented workers.

Just last Thursday, President Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that he had heard from the hotel, agriculture, and leisure sectors that his “very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them.”⁸ He promised that “changes would be made.”

A U.S. official, who spoke anonymously, confirmed that on the same day, Tatum King, an official with ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations unit, instructed regional leaders to halt investigations targeting the agriculture industry (including meatpackers), restaurants, and hotels.⁹ This indicates a strategic pause in enforcement against certain sectors, even as overall deportation efforts are being expanded in urban areas.