Washington, DC, March 11, 2026 — Yesterday, White House Deputy Chief of Staff James Blair spoke to House Republicans at a GOP retreat in Florida and urged them to avoid discussing mass deportations in the run up to the midterms. Instead, as Axios first reported, Blair urged the GOP members to instead focus related messaging on the “deportation of violent criminals” (despite the reality that the overwhelming majority of those being detained and deported by the Trump administration are not violent criminals).
When asked about Blair’s advice, White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson made clear to the Washington Post, “Nobody is changing the Administration’s immigration enforcement agenda.”
According to Vanessa Cárdenas, Executive Director of America’s Voice:
“Given the widespread condemnation of their tactics on immigration and political blowback by Latino voters, the Trump Administration is reverting to the old trick of putting lipstick on a pig. The GOP’s problem is mass deportation, not its messaging or who is running DHS.
The American people, including Latino voters, are rejecting their mass deportation agenda and are clearly calling for real change and accountability. Not reshuffling Donald Trump and Stephen Miller’s enablers or pretending they can message their way out of a moral and economic problem of their own making.
Free political advice for Republicans – if you want to tamp down the political blowback against the mass deportation agenda you should actually stop pursuing the mass deportation agenda.”
Of note and echoing the above points:
- New polling from Navigator Research finds that Americans are recoiling from the mass deportation agenda and are calling for real reform and focus on the issues they are concerned about – not Stephen Miller’s personal crusade against immigrants. As Navigator notes of the new polling, “There’s a growing disconnect between what Americans want and what GOP leaders in Washington are delivering. Americans want their elected officials to focus on the economy, but see President Trump and Republicans in Congress focused on immigration … [meanwhile] Favorability towards ICE continues to fall as Americans say agents have been too aggressive.”
- Also see the recent America’s Voice fact sheet: “Unchecked and Unaccountable: ICE’s Systematic Assault on Constitutional Rights Continues Across Six Key States”
The mission of America’s Voice (AV) and America’s Voice Education Fund (AVEF) is to build the public support and the political will needed to enact policy changes that secure freedom and opportunity for immigrants in America. Priority goal: win reforms that put 11 million undocumented Americans on a path to full citizenship.