The Trump administration's aggressive immigration enforcement has already made the country safer, pointing to a sharp drop in border apprehensions and a surge in removals of illegal immigrants, former acting Homeland Security secretary Chad Wolf said on Newsmax Saturday.
"There's no doubt that DHS, President Donald Trump, his administration over these last 11 months had such a big hill to climb, righting all the wrongs from the Biden administration for four years, having millions of individuals pour across that border unvetted," Wolf told Newsmax's "Saturday Agenda."
"They've done just a dramatic job of getting those apprehension numbers down and now removing individuals," he added.
Wolf spoke after Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem faced heated questioning from Democrats during a House hearing on worldwide threats to the homeland, where she defended President Donald Trump's immigration policies and enforcement priorities.
The discussion comes as more than 1.5 million illegal immigrants have left the United States since Trump returned to office, many voluntarily, as Immigration and Customs Enforcement steps up removals of criminal aliens from U.S. communities.
Wolf said the administration is now tackling what he described as the most difficult phase of immigration enforcement: physically removing individuals who have no legal right to remain in the country.
"The hard part comes, which is removing individuals from the country that don't have a legal right to be here," Wolf said. "Whether it's ICE or self-deportations, the message is getting out there - if you're here illegally, particularly if you're a criminal illegal alien continuing to commit criminal acts, you are going to be targeted and you will be removed."
Democrats at the House hearing sharply criticized Noem's testimony, including remarks by Rep. Bennie Thompson, D-Miss., that drew swift backlash after he characterized the fatal shooting of two National Guardsmen in Washington, D.C., as an "accident."
Wolf said the remarks reflected a broader pattern from Thompson and dismissed any attempt to walk them back.
"It wasn't accidental. It was planned. It was premeditated. It was executed," Wolf said. "It will likely be a terrorist event as the investigation comes out."
Wolf emphasized that rhetoric from elected officials carries consequences, especially for families of victims.
"Words matter here," he said. "Words matter to these families of the two National Guardsmen, and to call it out as he did is unforgivable."
Despite opposition from Democrats, Wolf said enforcement actions under Trump are restoring credibility to border security and public safety nationwide.
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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