PHOENIX — Senior Trump administration officials used the Border Security Expo in Phoenix to reiterate plans for expanded deportation operations, describing large-scale removals as a central pillar of their immigration strategy.
White House border czar Tom Homan praised Border Patrol and ICE activity over the past year and said the tempo of arrests and removals will be maintained or increased. Conference officials said immigration officers detained more than half a million undocumented immigrants last year and are currently averaging about 1,200 arrests per day; the Trump campaign had sought roughly a million deportations a year.
Homan told the Expo audience that with additional personnel on the border the administration will accelerate enforcement. He said that with 10,000 more agents in place, next year’s numbers will surpass last year’s. He promised intensified operations and invoked the administration’s campaign pledges as driving the effort.
His remarks came after Homan publicly softened enforcement rhetoric earlier in the year following a January operation in Minneapolis that resulted in the deaths of two U.S. citizens at the hands of Homeland Security officers. That episode prompted bipartisan calls to halt the Minnesota crackdown — a drawdown Homan had led — and spurred changes in DHS leadership. President Trump later said enforcement would take on a somewhat “softer touch” and replaced Secretary Kristi Noem with former Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin.
Polls earlier in the year showed declining public support for aggressive interior enforcement, with a majority of respondents saying recent tactics had gone too far, though Republican backing for ICE remained strong. Homan framed the administration’s stance as keeping campaign promises while emphasizing priorities: people with criminal records or security risks would be targeted first, he said, but he added that prioritization would not amount to a blanket exemption for others who are in the country illegally.
Homan also said Secretary Mullin shares his enforcement views, though Mullin did not attend the Expo. Mullin has said the department is trying to be “more quiet” about operations to avoid headlines. He told media the agency arrested more than 1,900 people on May 5 and deported roughly 2,700 the prior week, adding that enforcement had not slowed.
DOJ focus on denaturalization
The Expo, which draws immigration officials and companies seeking federal contracts for drones, AI, tactical gear and related technologies, also featured participation from the Justice and Defense departments.
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — the first AG to speak at the event — said federal agencies are coordinating on arrests and deportations and stressed DOJ-DHS collaboration on investigations, prosecutions and courtroom work. Blanche identified denaturalization efforts and immigration courts as DOJ priorities.
Blanche said the department expects to exceed the total number of denaturalization cases filed over the four years of the Biden administration, which he said numbered 64. Denaturalization, a relatively rare legal process, involves stripping citizenship from people accused of lying on naturalization applications about criminal convictions or membership in banned organizations; the government must prove such allegations in court. Blanche framed the effort as protecting the integrity of the naturalization process.
Enforcement in sanctuary jurisdictions and local responses
Homan warned of increased enforcement and more “collateral arrests” in jurisdictions that limit cooperation with federal immigration authorities, singleing out New York as an example. He said agents would be more visible in neighborhoods in those areas because local policies had, in his view, forced federal action.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul pushed back, noting President Trump had earlier said he would not send a surge of ICE agents into the state unless she requested it. “I’m not asking,” she responded to Homan’s remarks.
Spending, hiring and capacity
Jaclyn Rubino, a DHS official overseeing obligation of congressional funds, said the department is on track to commit roughly 75% of the $191 billion appropriated last summer by September. She said the agency is “frontloading” spending on hiring, detention capacity, office space and new technology.
That funding, officials said, has supported recruitment and interagency data sharing. Rubino outlined hiring targets that include 10,000 new ICE positions and thousands more Customs and Border Protection officers and agents, with new hires to receive necessary equipment. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said cross-border encounters have fallen and credited the decline in part to increased arrests and removals, noting a recruitment pipeline expected to add about 5,000 new border patrol agents in coming months.
Acting ICE Director Todd Lyons, who is due to retire at the end of the month, outlined plans to expand legal and enforcement ranks, citing targets such as 2,500 new attorneys for immigration court work, 11,000 deportation officers and 3,500 special agents.
Rubino acknowledged the department is hiring law enforcement positions faster than mission support roles like recruiters and technologists, a gap exacerbated by recent government shutdowns that left DHS employees unpaid for extended periods. Congress recently ended the longest DHS shutdown in history, funding most parts of the department but leaving some immigration enforcement functions excluded. Republicans are pursuing reconciliation to fund all of DHS, including ICE and CBP, for the remainder of the administration without Democratic support.
“Mission support personnel are critical,” Rubino said, noting that missed paychecks complicate recruitment and onboarding and that those challenges must be addressed as hiring accelerates.