What does success on Illegal Immigration look like?

In a perfect world, we would deport every single last illegal immigrant in this country. We have the right to do it, and we should try to do it, but the reality is it’s extremely difficult. Or at the very least, it could take decades.

So it got me thinking - how do we judge Trump’s performance on illegal immigration and deportations? first and foremost, you have to stop the flow, which we already did. that cannot get overlooked. next, I would say 4 million removals during the term would be a success. the most removals ever in one year was in 2013 with 438k. Given that we have a mandate and more resources, I think we can more than double that to average 1 million per year. 2025 saw 330k removals so we’ve got some work to do the next three years. Note - these numbers don’t include self-deportations. Again, I think it’s unrealistic to expect 14+ million removals in 4 years, but I’ll take 4 million plus self-deportations.

Lastly, you have to consider the downstream impacts on Americans. Record low crime rates and a 20% drop in overdose deaths in one year are tangible effects of immigration policy.

While they still need to get those deportation numbers up, I’m not ready to call it a failure yet.