Trump Isn’t Tough on Immigration — He’s Just Cruel, Loud, and Ineffective

Donald Trump loves to posture as a strongman on immigration. He talks big, shouts louder, and turns every press moment into a show of supposed strength. But here’s the truth the media doesn’t highlight enough: Trump has deported far fewer people than Barack Obama.

Obama removed over 2.4 million people during his presidency, a number Trump has never even come close to matching. Even in his second term, Trump is falling way behind. Despite promises of mass deportations and an “immigration crackdown,” the actual numbers tell a different story. Estimates suggest he’s removed less than 60,000 people in the first few months of 2025 — a fraction of what he claims.

So what is Trump doing? He’s not being effective. He’s being brutal.

Instead of focusing on smart, coordinated enforcement, Trump has chosen the path of spectacle and cruelty. His administration is targeting families, staging dramatic ICE raids in front of cameras, and pushing policies that fast-track removals without due process — even when it means detaining or deporting lawful residents and U.S. citizens by mistake. We’ve seen people ripped from their homes, children left without parents, asylum seekers treated like criminals, and vulnerable communities terrorized — all to make Trump look “tough.”

But this isn’t strength. This is weakness wrapped in violence. This is fear-mongering for political gain. This is a man so obsessed with power that he uses human lives as props in his reality show of governance.

The actual monthly deportation numbers under Trump are lower than Obama’s peak years and on par with Biden’s, yet Trump’s methods are far more dehumanizing and chaotic. He’s flexing his muscles, but the system he’s running is inefficient, overwhelmed, and legally challenged at every turn. Judges are reversing his deportations. Public backlash is growing. His cruelty is catching up with him — and exposing his incompetence.

This isn’t about border security or national safety. This is about fear, racism, and control. It’s about keeping his base angry and distracted from his steady usurpation of power and his own personal enrichment at the expense of the low-income Americans that helped elect him.

We know that cruelty isn’t strength. That mass suffering isn’t justice. And that performative authoritarianism isn’t leadership. Real strength is protecting the vulnerable, fixing broken systems with integrity, and fighting for policies rooted in truth, dignity and democratic values.