To understand where things stand in the Minnesota immigration war, it’s best to start by separating the politics from the policy. The killing of two U.S. citizens by immigration officers showed Americans the carnage that excessive force can cause, and it created the gravest political crisis of President Donald Trump’s second term thus far. A February 2 survey by YouGov found that half the country thinks Trump’s deportation strategy has become too harsh, and that Trump’s overall immigration policy has more critics than supporters. It’s a steep drop since the first half of last year, when Trump’s swift sealing of the border made immigration his best issue.
But is he losing the policy war as decisively as the political one? Much of the press seems to think so.
When White House border czar Tom Homan announced the withdrawal on Wednesday of 700 immigration agents from the Minneapolis area, news stories framed the pullout as nothing more than an admission of political defeat. The reports suggest that thousands of protesters, observers, and disruptors in the Minneapolis streets achieved an unconditional victory against an invasive federal force.
Yet the gears of Trump’s actual deportation policy are still turning behind the scenes of this political defeat. And if the new developments take hold, they could become one of the biggest policy victories of Trump’s term.
