Mary Rooke Commentary and Analysis Writer
As voters head into the midterm elections, they’ll be looking at how the GOP has delivered on its mandates, especially its clear directive on immigration.
Voters elected President Donald Trump on a platform centered on large-scale removals of illegal immigrants and an end to the Biden-era open border policies. The influx of millions of illegal immigrants placed significant strain on almost every aspect of American lives, from housing to jobs. The electorate rejected this and demanded a fundamental reversal. Instead, Congress and members of the Trump administration consistently push for moderation rather than the much-needed intensity of the original agenda.
Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Sec. Markwayne Mullin has disappointed large segments of the president’s political base. While he publicly affirms support for the voter mandate of mass deportations, his operational decisions reveal a more restrained approach.
The head of DHS should be a bloodthirsty savage who’s so passionate about removing foreigners that the president has to hold him back and tell him to tone it down.
Instead we’re stuck with this loser. https://t.co/j0OSimzfZJ— Jesse Kelly (@JesseKellyDC) August 1, 2026
During the tenure of Mullin’s predecessor, Kristi Noem, the department pursued a substantial expansion of detention capacity. It acquired approximately eleven large warehouses across the country, with the explicit intention of converting them into high-capacity Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention facilities. Two of these properties were located in Pennsylvania and were set to house about 9,000 detainees. It was a clear signal that DHS was taking concrete steps toward the scale of operations necessary to support mass arrests and deportations. Under Mullin, those plans were substantially abandoned.
At least seven of the eleven warehouses were being sold, transferred to other agencies, or otherwise removed from the detention pipeline. The Pennsylvania sites were formally discontinued after the department withdrew its appeals of state environmental orders that restricted access to water and sewer infrastructure. Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro publicly praised the move, calling Mullin “responsive” and noted that their collaboration had been constructive and discreet. Facilities intended to accommodate thousands of illegal immigrants in a single state were effectively taken offline.
Without adequate bed space, sustained high-volume arrests become operationally impossible. Detention capacity directly correlates to the administration’s ability to complete the number of formal removals required for true mass deportations, and without it, the mission cannot be achieved.
American voters who supported a decisive enforcement agenda deserve more aggressive implementation than they have received thus far. Trump needs a DHS secretary whose commitment to mass deportations is so resolute that the president has to restrain him, rather than one who appears to require external pressure to maintain alignment with the voters. (Sign up for Mary Rooke’s weekly newsletter here!)
It’s no surprise that the base is interpreting the liquidation of these facilities as yet more evidence that Mullin never intended to escalate arrests to the levels necessary for transformative results. While appearing on CNN’s State of the Union show in June, Mullin addressed Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders, stating that they had a “couple of choices” after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration could order their removal from the country. He suggested they could apply for permanent residence or a visa, or accept a stipend and flight home. Many viewed the remarks as Mullin once again opening the door to immigrant legalization rather than swift removal. Mullin was forced to do damage control, insisting that TPS is temporary. Still, the episode fixed in many minds the idea that he lacked the uncompromising tenacity the base expected of a DHS Secretary.
Let me be ABUNDANTLY clear:
Temporary Protected Status is just that: TEMPORARY.
Democrats tried to turn this into a defacto amnesty program. President Trump put a STOP to it.
If you are in the country without status, you are here illegally. Illegal aliens have two choices —… https://t.co/v9CQ9alA5G— Secretary Markwayne Mullin (@SecMullinDHS) June 28, 2026
Again in July, after fatal ICE encounters, Mullin paused certain vehicle stops, which are an important part of immigration enforcement, forcing Trump to overrule him publicly. While this reportedly caused White House tension between Mullin and Trump, the public complained that Mullin seemingly capitulated to the anti-deportation wing of the left.
Critics hit Mullin again Saturday over comments during his panel at the National Governors Association meeting. Mullin discussed immigration reform, the distinction between legal and illegal immigration, allowing for more work visas to address supposed labor shortages, and praising the high numbers of naturalizations that have happened during the second Trump administration. Mullin found himself once again playing damage control, posting a “NO amnesty” message on X. News of the decommissioned Pennsylvania facilities and his cozy relationship with Shapiro merely poured fuel on the already blazing fire.
It’s been two years since Trump came back into office. Members of his own administration have said that at least 20 million illegal immigrants came in under the Biden years. Even if the administration’s claim that 3 million illegal immigrants have been removed either by deportation or self-deportation since 2025 is correct, that number is not nearly enough to make a difference in relieving the hardship Americans face because of their presence.
Additionally, if Republicans fail to maintain control of Congress after the midterm elections, the number of removals will be significantly hindered by an oppositional Democratic Party. Knowing that the base is begging for action, one would assume that elected Republicans would be doing everything in their power to show voters that they are working to deliver on their promise for mass deportations. Instead, Utah Republican Sen. John Curtis, among others, continues to advance legislation that would create legal pathways to residency for illegal immigrants.
Curtis teamed up with Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly to introduce legislation Monday that would establish a new temporary nonimmigrant category. The State Sponsored Visa Pilot Program Act of 2026 permits states to sponsor foreign workers or investors, along with their spouses and minor children, for legal residence of up to three years in the U.S.
Utah employers tell me time and again how difficult it’s become to find enough workers to meet growing demands. Our bill allows states to sponsor visas tailored to their unique workforce needs, while ensuring rigorous federal vetting and accountability. https://t.co/9JpEfpVn4s— Senator John Curtis (@SenJohnCurtis) August 3, 2026
What’s worse is that the bill doesn’t just apply to new immigrants looking for work. The bill would allow illegal immigrants physically present in the U.S. since Dec. 31, 2016, to apply for legal residency. All it would cost them is a $1,000 penalty. Curtis has presented the legislation as a response to labor shortages reported by employers in agriculture, construction, and hospitality. Most would simply call this amnesty for illegal immigrant workers whose presence drives down wages and increases costs for Americans.
Curtis spent the early years of his political life running as a Democratic candidate in Utah. He ran for Utah state Senate as a Democrat in 2000 and was the chair of the Utah County Democratic Party until he decided to run for Provo mayor in 2006, coincidentally the same year he changed his party affiliation to Republican.
It’s much more complicated than that with Curtis. He declared in an op-ed that he would NOT run for Romney’s seat. After he wrote that, millions of dollars in outside money flowed into Utah to pressure him to run… that’s right, political advertisements were being bought to beg…— DataRepublican (small r) (@DataRepublican) August 4, 2026
The electorate wants mass deportations. It did not authorize the creation of new legal channels for individuals who entered or remained in the country unlawfully. It didn’t demand moderation on removing illegal immigrants. The idea that Republicans are still pushing for this is an insult to the very people they claim to represent. (ROOKE: GOP Governor’s Weak Response On Immigration The Reason We Can’t Stop Fighting The Blob)
The remaining two years of Trump’s term will be the decisive measure of his political legacy. Every month devoted to the liquidation of potential detention capacity, every bill that opens a pathway to citizenship rather than closing one, and every public emphasis on restraint rather than maximal enforcement represents a dilution of the agenda the American people endorsed. Allowing this to continue is nothing short of failure.