A newly named coalition of conservative organizations, Mass Deportation Coalition, is pressing the Trump administration to reach its annual goal of 1 million deportations.
Why It Matters
President Donald Trump has pledged a sweeping immigration crackdown and said during his campaign that his administration would aim to deport as many as 1 million people a year, part of a broader platform centered on mass removals and expanded enforcement. The newly disclosed coalition of hard-line immigration advocates and allied groups is pressing the administration to fully pursue the 1 million deportations per year target.
Since taking office, the scale and tactics of that agenda have drawn increasing scrutiny on Capitol Hill and beyond. In recent weeks, some Republicans and many Democrats have voiced concern following the deadly shootings of two U.S. citizens in January by federal agents, as 37-year-olds Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretti were killed during immigration maneuvers. The federal government is in a partial shutdown over Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding and tactics employed by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
In addition to mass protests and anger over the administration’s immigration policies, impacted immigrants have filed thousands of federal court petitions challenging their detention, with Reuters reporting more than 20,200 habeas cases since Trump took office for his second term.
What To Know
The coalition, composed of immigration law and policy experts as well as some former government officials, seeks to offer the Trump administration a public plan for how to achieve the baseline goal of 1 million annual deportations, according to its website.
The coalition also hopes that “by 2027 and 2028 the Trump Administration can build off that logistical, operational, and policy framework to scale deportations to exceed the enforcement efforts of President Eisenhower, as promised.”
The website highlights specific principles, including worksite enforcement, which it credits as the “most critical missing enforcement policy for the Trump Administration to get on track and meet his agenda.”
It also calls for “regular and complete data transparency” from the administration. The Trump administration’s ICE arrests, detention and removal trackers have not been updated since January 2025. The White House typically posts highlights of various immigration operations, not full data sets.
The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank involved in the effort, also led the Project 2025 initiative, a massive blueprint for a second Trump term that the president initially distanced himself from during the 2024 campaign but that has overlapped with actions and personnel choices in his administration.
The coalition partners listed on the website include: Center for Baptist Leadership; Center for the American Way of Life; Data Republican; Erik Prince; Escoreal Solutions; Federation for American Immigration Reform; The Heritage Foundation; Immigration Accountability Program; Mark Morgan; National Immigration Center for Enforcement; Oversight Project; and the State Leadership Initiative.
What People Are Saying
Morgan, who previously led Customs and Border Protection and ICE, to the Daily Caller News Foundation: “In order for the President to fully achieve his signature campaign promise of the largest deportation operation in American history, enforcement must now shift from the limited subset of criminal illegal aliens, towards a much larger population of those illegally present in the United States.”
Daniel McFadden, managing attorney at the ACLU of Massachusetts, in September: “All people in the United States are entitled to due process — without exception. When the government arrests any person inside the United States, it must be required to prove to a judge that there is an actual reason for the person’s detention. Our client and others like him have a constitutional and statutory right to receive a bond hearing for exactly that purpose. Yet the Trump administration is now ignoring that right and jailing people arbitrarily without a hearing. The Fifth Amendment says that no person can be deprived of liberty without due process of law. This lawsuit seeks to ensure that the promise of our Constitution remains a reality.”
DHS Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin, to Newsweek in an email Saturday for a different article: “The Trump administration is more than prepared to handle the legal caseload necessary to deliver President Trump’s deportation agenda for the American people.
“No lawbreakers in the history of human civilization have been treated better than illegal aliens in the United States. Additionally, it should come as no surprise that more habeas petitions are being filed by illegal aliens—especially after many activist judges have attempted to thwart President Trump from fulfilling the American people’s mandate for mass deportations.”
What Happens Next
The Mass Deportation Coalition says on its website that a playbook with “a menu of policy and operational tools for the Trump Administration to achieve at least 1 million deportations in 2026” will be available no later than April 1.
