While PresidentDonald Trumpsays immigration agents could have used "a softer touch" in Minneapolis, local advocates and national experts predict not much will change in the White House's pursuit of the largest mass deportation in history.
The administration's hardline immigration enforcement has upset millions of Americans who supported deporting immigrants with criminal records but who are uncomfortable with the aggressive tactics and detention of longtime community members and their children.
Arecent pollshows Trump is losing ground on the issue even among Republicans.
After the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal immigration agents (ICE), communities across the U.S. are protesting against Trump's surge of immigration enforcement actions.Pictured here, Demonstrators gather for a protest calling for the removal of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 30, 2026 in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Protests were held across the United States in response to ICE enforcement activity." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Hundreds of people gather to protest ICE at the corner of Palafox and Garden Streets in downtown Pensacola, Florida, on Jan. 30, 2026." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
'ICE Out' protests spark marches, confrontations across US
After the fatal shootings of Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good by federal immigration agents (ICE), communities across the U.S. areprotestingagainst Trump's surge of immigration enforcement actions.Pictured here, Demonstrators gather for a protest calling for the removal of United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement on Jan. 30, 2026 in the Chinatown neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Protests were held across the United States in response to ICE enforcement activity.
But, while Trump may be dialing down his own rhetoric, his administration is primed to supercharge its enforcement campaign for the next three years with:
Billions of dollars in new funding flowing into a growing detention-and-deportation system, with preparations underway to lock up tens of thousands more detainees in warehouse megacenters;
Thousands of new Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol agents being hired, trained and deployed, many of them rushed through a newly shortened academy designed to get them onto the streets within weeks of signing on;
An arrest quota that requires ICE apprehend 3,000 immigrants daily and a directive allowing agents to enter homes without a judicial warrant;
New technology allowing immigration enforcers to use facial recognition to identify virtually every person they encounter, powered by Big Tech companies that have built sprawling databases, combining federal records and commercial information collected by data brokers.
"Until (Trump) starts saying that mass deportation itself is the wrong policy, the reality is he can do so much damage," said Andrea Flores, former immigration advisor to the Obama and Biden administrations. "There is just no option for people, and our undocumented population is so big."
Trump, who closely watches opinion polls, removed thecontroversial Border Patrol commanderand began softening his message after immigration enforcers in Minneapolis shot and killed two U.S. citizens last month. The deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti sparked massive protests nationally.
"I learned that maybe we could use a little bit of a softer touch. But you still have to be tough," Trump said in a Feb. 4 Oval Office interview withNBC Nightly News.
A 'softer touch,' or just a slightly different approach?
Trump signaled that "softer touch" by removing Border Patrol Commander-at-LargeGreg Bovinofrom his leadership of the deadly Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, replacing him with White House border czarTom Homan.
But while Bovino drew attention for his television appearances, social-media jousting with Democratic governors, and courtroom battles with federal judges, Homan has long pushed for similar policies, albeit with a lower profile. It was Homan, for instance, who last summer promised to flood Democratic cities with immigration enforcers – the campaign that unleashed Bovino and his "Mean Green" team to Chicago, Charlotte and New Orleans.
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Commander at Large Gregory Bovino speaks during a news conference at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal on Jan. 25, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minn. The news conference comes after 37-year-old legal observer Alex Pretti was fatally shot during a confrontation with federal agents. The Trump administration has sent a reported 3,000 federal agents into the area, with more on the way, as they make a push to arrest undocumented immigrants in the region." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
US Border Patrol Chief Bovino under fire after Minneapolis deaths
U.S. Customs and Border Patrol Commander at LargeGregory Bovinospeaks during a news conference at the Bishop Henry Whipple Federal on Jan. 25, 2026 in Minneapolis, Minn. The news conference comes after 37-year-old legal observer Alex Pretti was fatally shot during a confrontation with federal agents. The Trump administration has sent a reported 3,000 federal agents into the area, with more on the way, as they make a push to arrest undocumented immigrants in the region.
And Vice PresidentJD Vancelast month promised that agentswould be going "door to door"to find people to remove, apparently using a new system of paid private contractors to track them down first – a system some small-governmentconservatives worry could be usedagainst them in a Democratic administration.
Trump and top officials continue to push a narrative: "We're dealing with really hard criminals," Trump said in the NBC interview. The administration's own data, though, shows that the majority of detained immigrantshave no criminal recordat all, only immigration violations.
Speaking to reporters on Feb. 4, Homan echoed what he's long said: While the administration is targeting criminal offenders, immigration enforcers will continue detaining any "collateral" people they come across.
"Let me be clear, President Trump fully intends to achieve mass deportations during this administration, and immigration enforcement actions will continue every day throughout this country. President Trump made a promise," Homan said.
More:Five key ways ICE detention centers are booming under Trump
Growing detain-and-deport infrastructure
The White House is still forging ahead with the enforcement Trump promised during the 2024 presidential campaign. Plans for "mass deportation" hinge on policies and funding that remain in place, experts say.
Last year, Congress authorized $45 billion in new funding for ICE detention, enough to pay for more than 135,000 detention beds through fiscal 2029, according toa reportby the American Immigration Council. At the end of the Biden administration, ICE had funding for 41,500 beds.
And ICE is still operating under orders that encourage aggressive deportation sweeps, Flores said.
Americans shouldn't expect a real shift in enforcement tactics, she said, until the administration scraps the ICE arrests quota; rescinds a memo directing ICE agents to enter homes without a judicial warrant; and returns to targeted enforcement that prioritizes only people with criminal records.
Under these orders, "immigrant communities will continue to be terrorized," she said.
But Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for reduced immigration, said the shift in tone and change in leadership is meaningful, signalling a return to more traditional law enforcement efforts. Bovino's bluster and hyperbole didn't serve the president's mission, he said.
Krikorian said a more traditional law enforcement approach should trade street sweeps for a greater focus on worksite enforcement – somethingHoman has advocated for, but whichTrump disdains.
"That is the big thing we need to hear about is employment and work-related enforcement," Krikorian said. "That is the way you get self-deportation to really ramp up – not operations in big cities with cutesy names.
"You can't arrest your way out of an enormous illegal immigration problem," he said.
Targeting criminals while redefining what it means to be one
Nearly 14 million unauthorized immigrantswere living in the United States in 2023, according to the nonpartisan Migration Policy Institute. More than 4 million of them were married to a U.S. citizen or legal permanent resident, but had no clear path to legal status.
At the same time, unlike any Democrat or Republican president before him, Trump has actively expanded the undocumented populationby removing statusfrom millions of immigrants, canceling Temporary Protected Status and the protections provided by humanitarian parole.
"I don't see them switching gears or recognizing the harm they've caused," said Colorado state Rep. Yara Zokaie, an Iranian-American Democrat who represents the liberal college town of Fort Collins. "What we are seeing is the federal government's policy working as intended. And that's why it's so horrifying."
Arecent pollshowed a surge in positive sentiment for immigrants.
An Economist/YouGov poll conducted between Jan. 30 and Feb. 2 – following the fatal shootings of Good and Pretti – also showed a corresponding drop in negative sentiment. Fewer than a third of Americans surveyed, or 31%, wanted low or zero immigration, compared with 41% in January 2025.
The drop was most pronounced among Democrats, but independents and Republicans respondents also showed 10- and 9-point declines in negative sentiment, respectively.
Trump swept into office in large part by promising a harsh deportation campaign that would remove millions of "criminal illegal aliens," the phrase he and top officials use to describe people in the country without permission, regardless of whether they have an actual court conviction.
But while the president and his advisers have repeatedly said they are focusing on convicted criminals, especially violent ones, the on-the-ground reality is different.
ICE agents have swept up hundreds of thousands of people without regard for how long they have lived here, whether they have American citizen children or spouses, or that they've otherwise been law-abiding.
Of the more than 70,000 people currently in immigration detention facilities, only about 25% of them have any kind of criminal conviction, which can include traffic violations and other minor offenses, according to theTransactional Records Access Clearinghouse, which tracks detention data.
Jason Houser, who served as chief of staff for ICE during the Biden administration, said Trump and his team are deliberately conflating hardened criminals with anyone who has broken an immigration law, such as overstaying a visa or crossing the border illegally. Houser said that because the majority of Americans support removing serious criminals, the White House muddies the waters in an effort to maintain support for mass deportations.
He pointed to Homeland Security officials' regular practice of releasing information about a handful of detainees they consider among the "worst of the worst," while declining to release specifics about the vast majority of detainees.
"They tactically are brilliant at using language from other contexts to blend in and confuse the public..." Houser said. "They want to create an 'other,' and that's what they're doing. But it's not some migrant lurking behind a tree – it's just your neighbor. A criminal to me is someone who has been convicted in a court of law. And 90% of Americans would think that, too."
New calls for immigration reform
Some experts see in the Minneapolis debacle, and the Trump administration's "softer tone," a chance to talk about immigration reform ‒ in addition to enforcement.
U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican, ina New York Times Op-Edcriticized former PresidentJoe Biden's "lenient border policies." But he also called on the Trump administration to reassess their current tactics in American cities. And he called on Congress to rewrite immigration law.
"After tensions have calmed, Congress can then piece together the rest of an immigration plan that settles the issue," he said. "Along with building on Mr. Trump's border policies, a realistic plan would provide a path to legal status – not citizenship – for long-term illegal immigrants without criminal records."
Congress last seriously attempted comprehensive immigration reform in 2013, when a bipartisan group of senators known as the "Gang of Eight" – including now-Secretary of State Marco Rubio – wrote and passed a bill to broadly reform the nation's immigration law. The Republican-led House of Representatives voted it down.
A bipartisan border security bill failed in 2024 after Trump, then running for re-election, shot it down.
More:Farmers are facing a fork on Trump's immigration highway. So what's next?
The last significant update to the Immigration and Naturalization Act came in 1996, before the internet, globalization and social media transformed world economies and provoked new patterns of migration. In recent years, for example, migrants have documented their journeys overland to the U.S. border on social media, making the journey more accessible than ever. Experts say U.S. immigration law isn't designed to address modern realities.
Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former DHS and ICE official under the Obama, first Trump and Biden administrations, has argued that an enforcement-only approach is "unsustainable and inconsistent" with American values and economic needs. She proposes pairing enforcement with "proportional consequences" – a sort of legal off-ramp for some immigrants to get right with the law.
"You are seeing people coming out saying we probably need a middle ground," she told USA TODAY. "One way is to offer people protection. Above anything else, we have to have something to answer for the long-term undocumented."
Where will ICE go next?
In Minneapolis, mourners continue visiting the sites where Good and Pretti were killed and demonstrating at a federal building where immigration enforcers have been staging.
During a January protest outside the city's Whipple Federal building, longtime local Dan McGregor said he hoped Bovino's departure truly signaled a new approach.
McGregor said, like many Americans, he supports the removal of people convicted of violent crimes, but not solely for immigration violations.
"I want to believe that Bovino getting fired is a signifier that ICE operations here are winding down and that there's going to be a movement of troops out of Minneapolis to somewhere else," McGregor said.
On Feb. 4, Homan announced he woulddraw down by 700the number of immigration enforcement personnel in Minneapolis. There had been as many as 3,000 agents in the city.
Billie Eilish used her Grammys acceptance speech for song of the year to encourage people to continue to stand up to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. Wearing an "ICE Out" pin, she told the audience at the Feb. 1 awards show to "keep fighting" amid a ramp up in ICE raids across the country as part of President Trump's mass deportation efforts.
Scroll through to see the other celebrities that sported "ICE Out" pins at the 2026 Grammys." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" />
Justin Bieber and his wife Hailey Bieber pose on the red carpet wearing "ICE Out" pins. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
A close up of Bieber on the red carpet. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Hailey Bieber poses on the red carpet. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
A close up of Hailey Bieber's "ICE Out" pin, fixed to her black ensemble. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Rhiannon Giddens poses with an instrument and "ICE Out" pin. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Carole King takes the stage with her "ICE out" pin." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Joni Mitchell wears an "ICE Out" pin as she accepts the best historical album award for "Joni Mitchell Archives - Volume 4: The Asylum Years 1976-1980." " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Brandi Carlile arrives for the 68th annual Grammy Awards, pairing her "ICE Out" pin with a sleek suit. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Kehlani wears an "ICE out" pin while posing on the red carpet." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Amy Allen wears an "ICE out" pin as she accepts the songwriter of the year, non-classical award during the Grammy awards premiere ceremony." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
A close up of Allen's pin." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Joy Graves sports an "Ice Out" pin on her heavily embroidered jacket." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Billie Eilish poses on the red carpet. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Donnacha Dennehy wears an "ICE Out" pin on the red carpet." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Helen J. Shen fixed her "Ice Out" pin to the neckline of a sleek black dress. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Brandi and Catherine Carlile wear "ICE Out" pins as they pose on the red carpet." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Jordan Tyson wears an "ICE Out" pin as she arrives for the 68th annual Grammy Awards." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Kamal Wilson wears an "ICE out" pin." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Niia wears an "ICE out" pin while performing during the Greammy Museum's after party." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Alan Pierson (R) wears an "ICE out" pin as he accepts the best chamber music/small ensemble performance award for "Dennehy: Land Of Winter." " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Lili Haydn and Paul Cantelon pose on the red carpet with "ICE Out" pins. " style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Trombone player Addison Maye-Saxon, wearing an "ICE Out" pin." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> 
Kehlani wears an "ICE out" pin as she arrives for the 68th annual Grammy Awards." style="max-width:100%; height:auto; border-radius:6px; margin:10px 0;" loading="lazy" /> See Billie Eilish, Justin Bieber wearing 'ICE Out' pins at Grammys
Billie Eilishused her Grammys acceptance speech for song of the year to encourage people to continue to stand up to Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents.Wearingan "ICE Out" pin, she told the audience at the Feb. 1 awards show to "keep fighting" amid a ramp up in ICE raids across the country as part of President Trump's mass deportation efforts.Scroll through to see the other celebrities that sported "ICE Out" pins at the 2026 Grammys.
Trump hasn't announced his next target. But he said in the same NBC interview that he had a short list.
"We have five cities that we're looking at very strongly," Trump said. "But we want to be invited."
He declined to name the cities.
Trevor Hughes covers the nation for USA TODAYand can be reached at trevorhughes@usatoday.com.
Lauren Villagran covers immigration and can be reached at lvillagran@usatoday.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Trump vows 'softer touch' but ICE to forge ahead with mass deportation
