Mixed messaging and the risk of overreach is threatening to undercut President Trump on what has so far been arguably his strongest political issue: immigration.
Trump has delighted his supporters in the first five months of his second term, aggressively following through on his pledge to ramp up deportations, crack down on border crossings and empower federal agents working in immigration enforcement.
“I think there’s more of a sense of urgency,” Ira Mehlman, media director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform, told The Hill.
“Ironically, they’ve benefited from four years of the Biden administration,” Mehlman said. “The American public got a taste of what open borders is like and didn't like it very much. This time, [Trump] came in with public sentiment being 'hey, this is crazy and we need to do something about it.'”
But Trump has in recent weeks hit some hiccups in messaging.
The president and the administration have offered conflicting messages about whether farmers and those in the hospitality industry will receive some kind of special treatment or exemption from broader deportation efforts.
Trump earlier in the month acknowledged concerns among the agriculture and hospitality industries that aggressive immigration enforcement was taking away workers key to those businesses, leading to a pause in enforcement at farms, hotels and other locations.
But within days, it appeared the administration seemed to reverse course. Border czar Tom Homan told reporters the administration would “continue to do worksite enforcement operations, even on farms and hotels, but based on a prioritized basis.”
Trump last Friday further muddied the picture when he again suggested he was looking into a way to help farmers.
“We’re looking at doing something where, in the case of good reputable farmers, they can take responsibility for the people that they hire and let them have responsibility because we can’t put the farms out of business,” Trump said in New Jersey.
Sources told The Hill the back-and-forth was evidence of a push and pull within the administration over how aggressively to pursue deportations and immigration enforcement while balancing it with economic concerns. Farmers in particular rely on workers without legal status to do the kind of hard labor many Americans won't.
The president himself has a history of working in the hospitality industry, something that could influence his approach.
“These are two very powerful industries,” Mehlman told The Hill. “They’ve come to expect they can hire people illegally, pay people low wages and pass the cost onto everybody else in addition to undermining opportunities for American workers.”
One area where Trump and his base are in agreement is ramping up immigration enforcement in large, Democratic-run cities. Trump last week called on Immigration and Customs Enforcement “to do all in their power” to help reach the administration’s mass deportation goals, singling out Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City for intensified enforcement efforts.
The mere perception of a crackdown in major cities can have a chilling effect, sources close to the White House argued, leading more migrants to steer clear of the southern border and prompting some who entered the country illegally to self-deport.
But there are risks in getting overzealous, as evidenced by Trump’s recent use of the National Guard and the Marines in Los Angeles amid immigration-related protests. While the White House welcomed its fight with California officials, polling has shown not all voters are thrilled to see a more militarized form of immigration enforcement.
A poll from The Economist and YouGov conducted June 13-16, days after the National Guard was deployed, found Trump’s approval on immigration at 44 percent among voters, his lowest mark to date in that poll during his second term.
A Fox News poll conducted during the same time frame found Trump’s approval on immigration at 46 percent. The same poll found 53 percent approved of his handling of border security, specifically.
Those are still strong marks for a president in a polarized country, especially one who has historically struggled to crack a 50 percent overall approval rating. But they are also evidence that some voters may be growing more skeptical of Trump’s approach.
Nobel Peace Prize pursuit
Trump’s intense focus on foreign policy in recent days has placed renewed attention on one of his long-standing hobby horses: The Nobel Peace Prize.
Trump was among the outspoken critics of the Nobel committee after it bestowed the honor on then-President Obama less than a year into his first term for his “efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.”
The Nobel Peace Prize has rarely been far from Trump’s mind as he shapes his own foreign policy.
He made the case that he was deserving during his first term after summits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to discuss denuclearization, though the summits failed to yield concrete results.
Trump’s allies have made the case that he is once again deserving of a look from the Nobel committee in the wake of some of his recent efforts to broker ceasefires around the world.
Pakistan said last week it would recommend Trump for the peace prize for his role in mediating its conflict with India.
Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.) wrote to the Nobel committee on Tuesday to make Trump’s case after he helped achieve a fragile and nascent ceasefire between Israel and Iran.
Winning the Nobel Peace Prize would be the kind of acknowledgement from an elite global institution that has proven elusive for Trump. It is also the kind of recognition he craves, even if he downplays it publicly.
“No, I won’t get a Nobel Peace Prize no matter what I do, including Russia/Ukraine, and Israel/Iran, whatever those outcomes may be, but the people know, and that’s all that matters to me!” Trump posted recently on Truth Social.
Trump-ification of the White House
Trump’s efforts to put his stamp on the White House aesthetically are fully underway, as evidenced by the bulldozers in the Rose Garden and the cranes on the South Lawn in recent days.
The president last week presided over the installation of a nearly 100-foot-tall flagpole on the South Lawn of the White House to fly an American flag. A similar pole was installed in the North Lawn as well.
The grass in the Rose Garden just outside the Oval Office has been torn up as construction crews work to put in place a patio-like surface that Trump had mused about earlier in his term. The solid surface will make the iconic space similar to Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, which has an outdoor patio where patrons gather.
White House officials have placed photos of Trump, including one in which his face is painted the colors of the American flag, around the complex alongside portraits of former first ladies.
And Trump is still eyeing the creation of a ballroom space inside the White House to hold large events, another project that carries echoes of his Mar-a-Lago estate.
“These are the ‘fun’ projects I do while thinking about the World Economy, the United States, China, Russia and lots of other Countries, places and events,” Trump posted earlier this month on Truth Social.
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