Trump to step up immigration crackdown with extra powers for law enforcement – US politics live (2025)

Asked by The Atlantic (paywall), if his second presidential term feels different to his first, Trump said it did.

The first time, I had two things to do — run the country and survive; I had all these crooked guys. And the second time, I run the country and the world.

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The piece goes on:

For weeks, we’d been hearing from both inside and outside the White House that the president was having more fun than he’d had in his first term. “The first time, the first weeks, it was just ‘Let’s blow this place up,’ ” Brian Ballard, a lobbyist and an ally of the president’s, had told us. “This time, he’s blowing it up with a twinkle in his eye.”

When we put this observation to Trump over the phone, he agreed. “I’m having a lot of fun, considering what I do,” he said. “You know, what I do is such serious stuff.”

Here is the clip of Tom Homan chiming in on the arrest of judges.

There will be another press briefing tomorrow (also at 8.30am ET) with treasury secretary Scott Bessent to discuss the economy, Leavitt says.

Asked about the arrest of Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan and whether the administration would arrest a judge higher up, Leavitt says Dugan’s is “a clear-cut case of obstruction”.

“Anyone who is breaking the law or obstructing federal law enforcement officials from doing their jobs is putting themselves at risk of being prosecuted, absolutely,” she says.

Texas military base Fort Bliss could be ready “in the very near future” to hold migrant detainees, Tom Homan says.

“Fort Bliss is being ramped up,” Homan says, adding that he did not have an exact timetable for when it might be ready to hold migrants.

Fort Bliss is a US army base headquartered in El Paso, Texas, but extends into New Mexico.

Asked how many of the illegal aliens present in the US have committed violent crimes of the like tooted by the administration, Homan talks about something else.

Homan says the administration has deported 139,000 people so far. “The numbers are good,” he says.

The deportation of Kilmar Ábrego García was “an oversight”, says Tom Homan, taking issue with the use of the word “error” (Ice said his removal was down to an “administrative error”).

Asked about Trump’s meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy over the weekend, Leavitt says Trump is “frustrated with both leaders of both countries” (Zelenskyy and Putin), but remains optimistic he can strike a deal.

Both leaders need to come to the negotiating table to end the war, Leavitt says. She notes that Putin had offered a temporary ceasefire on Monday, but reiterates that Trump has made it clear that he is seeking a permanent ceasefire.

El Salvador does not intend to return Kilmar Ábrego García to the US, Leavitt says, dodging the question which was asking if there had been any talks / negotiations between the US and El Salvador over facilitating Ábrego García’s release (the supreme court has ruled the Trump administration must facilitate his return to the US).

Trump has restarted construction of his border wall, with 85 miles of new barrier in various stages of construction and planning, Leavitt says.

Between Trump’s inauguration and the 100-day mark, “only 9 illegal aliens were released into the US”, Leavitt says, with the number of unaccompanied children arriving at the border also hitting a record low.

Total attempted crossings at the southwest bordering fell to a record low in March, she adds, with border patrol encountering just 7,000 people that month.

Trump will sign executive orders law and order, and another on sanctuary cities, Leavitt announces.

The first will “strengthen and unleash America’s law enforcement to pursue criminals and protect citizens”, she says.

The second is “centered around protecting American communities from criminal aliens, and it will direct the attorney general and secretary of homeland security to publish a list of state and local jurisdictions that have shucked the enforcement of federal immigration laws”.

These executive orders will bring the number signed by Trump so far this presidency to more than 140 in 100 days, approaching the number signed by Joe Biden’s entire term, Leavitt notes.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt is to hold a press conference shortly with Trump’s border czar Tom Homan, expected to focus on a key administration talking point – the dramatic fall in illegal border crossings in the last three months. I’ll bring you all the key lines here.

Ahead of the briefing, the White House has lined the driveway with posters of illegal aliens that have been arrested for violent crimes.