Donald Trump‘s immigration crackdown is fracturing his own party, with Republican governors openly defying the White House over detention expansion as political fallout from the carnage in Minneapolis threatens to cost him at the midterms.
Kristi Noem was rebuffed this week when she tried to build a new illegal migrant camp in New Hampshire by the state’s Republican Governor, Kelly Ayotte.
Merrimack residents were outraged when it emerged that the Homeland Security Secretary planned to use their town to expand Trump’s mass deportation effort.
Ayotte, a moderate Republican governing a blue state, informed Noem that she would not assist in the construction of the facility, according to Politico.
Noem faced further pushback in Mississippi when the state’s senior GOP senator, Roger Wicker, successfully derailed her plans for a proposed site earlier in February.
‘It’s a huge problem,’ a Trump administration official told Politico. ‘The mismanagement of Minneapolis lost us the narrative, and the dominos are falling as a result.’
The rift between the Trump administration and state Republicans comes amid mounting political backlash against the Minneapolis crackdown, where two Americans were shot dead by immigration agents.
An ICE spokesman attempted to downplay Noem’s failure to build new immigration detention facilities by claiming the secretary had a ‘great discussion’ with Ayotte last week. The representative added that Noem plans to ‘carry out the largest deportation effort in American history’ and ‘keep Americans safe.’
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem participates in Iowa’s Roast and Ride in Des Moines, Iowa, in October
The rift between the Trump administration and state Republicans comes amid mounting political fallout from the Minneapolis crackdown
Noem and other top White House officials denounced Americans fatally shot by immigration agents in Minneapolis
Some in the GOP are wary that voters could punish them at the polls if they appear too closely aligned with the White House on immigration
Republican hesitation to back Trump’s mass deportation agenda also comes as the midterm elections approach.
Republicans hold a slim majority in both the House and the Senate, with recent polling suggesting Democrats are poised to flip one or both chambers.
If the GOP suffers heavy losses in November, Trump would enter the final two years of his term as a lame-duck president.
Some in the GOP are wary that voters could punish them at the polls if they appear too closely aligned with the White House on immigration.
Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse, and Renee Good, a 37-year-old mother, were killed by Border Patrol and ICE agents in January.
Noem and other top White House officials, including Stephen Miller, labeled the dead Americans ‘domestic terrorists.’
The President, however, was displeased with the wave of negative press the White House faced following Pretti’s death.
Trump then tapped Noem’s chief rival, border czar Tom Homan, to take control of the Minneapolis crackdown.
Join the debate
Do you support Trump’s expansion of ICE detention facilities?
Ayotte, a moderate Republican governing a blue state, informed Noem that she would not assist in the construction of a immigration detention facility
Noem holds an assault rifle in an unorthodox fashion during a photo op with ICE agents last year
After brokering a deal with local and state leaders, Homan initiated a drawdown of immigration enforcement operations in the Twin Cities earlier this month.
Trump returned to the White House claiming a clear electoral mandate from voters after campaigning heavily on a promise of mass deportations.
Noem is facing mounting scrutiny after she accused her own DHS employees of installing software on her phone and laptop to spy on her.
The DHS chief on Thursday was interviewed by conservative podcaster Patrick Bet-David, claiming: ‘[Elon Musk] helped me identify that some of my own employees in my department had downloaded software on my phone and my laptop to spy on me, to record our meetings.’
Noem did not provide any evidence to substantiate her claims.
