GOP reckons with Trump’s ICE blunders: ‘Defeat out of the jaws of victory’
This affects the entire country.
President Donald Trump’s deportation crackdown has even Republicans worried that the American people are souring on combating illegal immigration, an issue that propelled the party to control Congress and the White House in 2024.
Across the Right, there are Republicans who see the chaotic images of federal agents in Minnesota clashing with protesters and engaging in deadly shootings are eroding the advantage they once held on immigration. These Republicans hold those views even as they lay blame on left-wing “agitators” for the unrest.
“Way more than a bit of a fumble,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), a fiscal hawk who is among the most conservative Senate members, told the Washington Examiner of the administration’s tactics. “This is pulling defeat out of the jaws of victory.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), a centrist retiring from Congress next year, accused embattled Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem of “taking this administration into the ground on an issue that we should own.” Tillis wants Noem, whose agency oversees federal immigration operations, to resign or be fired by Trump.
“We should own the issue of border security and immigration, but they have destroyed that for Republicans,” Tillis continued, also invoking White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller. “Something that got the president elected, they have destroyed it through their incompetence.”
In Maine, where Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is fighting a battleground reelection race, Noem agreed to cease “enhanced” Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations after the centrist Republican urged the administration “to get ICE to reconsider its approach to immigration enforcement in the state.”
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, the White House doubled down on its strategy, saying Trump “won the election in a landslide based on his promise to carry out the largest mass deportation of criminal illegal aliens.”
“Our focus remains the same: prioritizing violent criminal illegal aliens while also enforcing the law — anyone who is in the country illegally is eligible to be deported,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. “Meanwhile, the Democrats continue to slander law enforcement, defend dangerous criminal illegal aliens who harm innocent Americans, and back violent rioters who assault law enforcement.”
Jackson added that the Democrats had a losing “message in 2024, and it’s a losing message now. The American people want law and order.” …
This affects the entire country.
President Donald Trump’s deportation crackdown has even Republicans worried that the American people are souring on combating illegal immigration, an issue that propelled the party to control Congress and the White House in 2024.
Across the Right, there are Republicans who see the chaotic images of federal agents in Minnesota clashing with protesters and engaging in deadly shootings are eroding the advantage they once held on immigration. These Republicans hold those views even as they lay blame on left-wing “agitators” for the unrest.
“Way more than a bit of a fumble,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), a fiscal hawk who is among the most conservative Senate members, told the Washington Examiner of the administration’s tactics. “This is pulling defeat out of the jaws of victory.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), a centrist retiring from Congress next year, accused embattled Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem of “taking this administration into the ground on an issue that we should own.” Tillis wants Noem, whose agency oversees federal immigration operations, to resign or be fired by Trump.
“We should own the issue of border security and immigration, but they have destroyed that for Republicans,” Tillis continued, also invoking White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller. “Something that got the president elected, they have destroyed it through their incompetence.”
In Maine, where Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is fighting a battleground reelection race, Noem agreed to cease “enhanced” Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations after the centrist Republican urged the administration “to get ICE to reconsider its approach to immigration enforcement in the state.”
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, the White House doubled down on its strategy, saying Trump “won the election in a landslide based on his promise to carry out the largest mass deportation of criminal illegal aliens.”
“Our focus remains the same: prioritizing violent criminal illegal aliens while also enforcing the law — anyone who is in the country illegally is eligible to be deported,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. “Meanwhile, the Democrats continue to slander law enforcement, defend dangerous criminal illegal aliens who harm innocent Americans, and back violent rioters who assault law enforcement.”
Jackson added that the Democrats had a losing “message in 2024, and it’s a losing message now. The American people want law and order.” …
GOP reckons with Trump’s ICE blunders: ‘Defeat out of the jaws of victory’
This affects the entire country.
President Donald Trump’s deportation crackdown has even Republicans worried that the American people are souring on combating illegal immigration, an issue that propelled the party to control Congress and the White House in 2024.
Across the Right, there are Republicans who see the chaotic images of federal agents in Minnesota clashing with protesters and engaging in deadly shootings are eroding the advantage they once held on immigration. These Republicans hold those views even as they lay blame on left-wing “agitators” for the unrest.
“Way more than a bit of a fumble,” Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), a fiscal hawk who is among the most conservative Senate members, told the Washington Examiner of the administration’s tactics. “This is pulling defeat out of the jaws of victory.”
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC), a centrist retiring from Congress next year, accused embattled Homeland Security Sec. Kristi Noem of “taking this administration into the ground on an issue that we should own.” Tillis wants Noem, whose agency oversees federal immigration operations, to resign or be fired by Trump.
“We should own the issue of border security and immigration, but they have destroyed that for Republicans,” Tillis continued, also invoking White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller. “Something that got the president elected, they have destroyed it through their incompetence.”
In Maine, where Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) is fighting a battleground reelection race, Noem agreed to cease “enhanced” Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations after the centrist Republican urged the administration “to get ICE to reconsider its approach to immigration enforcement in the state.”
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, the White House doubled down on its strategy, saying Trump “won the election in a landslide based on his promise to carry out the largest mass deportation of criminal illegal aliens.”
“Our focus remains the same: prioritizing violent criminal illegal aliens while also enforcing the law — anyone who is in the country illegally is eligible to be deported,” White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said. “Meanwhile, the Democrats continue to slander law enforcement, defend dangerous criminal illegal aliens who harm innocent Americans, and back violent rioters who assault law enforcement.”
Jackson added that the Democrats had a losing “message in 2024, and it’s a losing message now. The American people want law and order.” …
