As the United States approaches the close of 2025, immigration enforcement has surged to the forefront of national debate, marked by a flurry of policy shifts, headline-grabbing deportations, and mounting legal and political battles. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) have rolled out a series of high-profile actions, while the Trump administration’s approach has drawn both praise and fierce criticism from across the political spectrum.
According to recent reporting by the Center for Immigration Studies, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) is now as close to achieving "operational control" of the Southwest border as it has ever been. In October 2025, Border Patrol agents apprehended just under 8,000 illegal migrants at the Southwest border—a 4.8 percent drop from the previous month and a staggering 86 percent decrease compared to October 2024. Since February, agents have apprehended just shy of 58,000 illegal entrants, averaging about 6,443 per month. This is a dramatic shift from fiscal year 2024, when monthly apprehensions averaged 127,500, and even more so from 2023, when the average was nearly 170,500.
One of the most notable changes, as highlighted by Center for Immigration Studies, is the demographic shift among those apprehended. Nearly 70 percent of illegal entrants caught in October were Mexican nationals—about 5,518 individuals—who can typically be processed and returned within hours. This marks a return to historical patterns seen before 2014, suggesting that CBP’s current deterrence strategies are proving effective. Since April 2025, not a single illegal migrant apprehended at the Southwest border has been released, a milestone that fulfills the Secure Fence Act of 2006’s mandate for "operational control"—defined as the prevention of all unlawful entries into the U.S.
While the border itself has quieted, the spotlight has shifted to ICE’s interior enforcement efforts, which have sparked both media attention and public protest. Operations like "Midway Blitz" in Chicago and "Charlotte’s Web" in North Carolina have drawn criticism amid claims of random sweeps and racial profiling. Yet, as a veteran of immigration enforcement explained to the Center for Immigration Studies, such tactics are both wasteful and, in most cases, illegal. ICE’s own data supports this: of the 52,510 individuals currently in ICE custody, 16,057 have criminal convictions and another 15,259 have pending criminal charges—meaning roughly 60 percent of those detained in the interior have criminal records. The remainder, often under final removal orders, are awaiting deportation.
ICE has already removed 56,392 aliens from its custody since October 1, 2025, and DHS projects that, at this pace, deportations could surpass 600,000 for fiscal year 2026. The impact is visible in broader demographic trends: the total foreign-born population in the U.S. has declined by about 2 million since February 2025, with most of the reduction attributed to the departure of individuals who were unlawfully present.
Yet, not all enforcement actions have gone uncontested. In a story first reported by The Hill and ANI, ICE detained Bruna Ferreira, a Brazilian citizen and mother of White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s nephew, earlier this month. Ferreira, who originally entered the U.S. on a tourist visa in 1998 and was required to leave by June 1999, also has a prior arrest for battery. She is currently being held at the South Louisiana ICE Processing Centre and is in removal proceedings. According to a Department of Homeland Security spokesperson, "Under President Trump and Secretary Noem, all individuals unlawfully present in the United States are subject to deportation."
Ferreira’s case has drawn attention not only because of her family ties but also due to claims made on a GoFundMe page launched by her sister, which states that Ferreira was protected under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. The fundraising effort aims to cover legal expenses as she fights deportation. A source familiar with the family told The Hill that Ferreira and Leavitt’s brother have not spoken in years, and the child lives full-time with his father in New Hampshire.
The Trump administration, since returning to office in January 2025, has intensified its deportation strategy, asserting a focus on removing the "worst of the worst." However, this approach has faced legal challenges and sparked controversy, particularly as enforcement actions touch high-profile individuals and families. Leavitt herself has been a vocal defender of the administration’s immigration crackdown, standing by the broader push to remove those living in the country illegally.
Meanwhile, a separate dispute has erupted over the deportation of more than 200 Venezuelan migrants to El Salvador. As reported by Politico and Fox News, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem authorized the transfer in March 2025, just hours after U.S. District Judge James Boasberg issued an emergency order to halt the use of the Alien Enemies Act for such removals. Senior Justice Department officials Todd Blanche and Emil Bove advised DHS on the legality of the flights, with Noem ultimately directing that those already removed before the court’s order be transferred to Salvadoran custody. The Justice Department maintains that "the decision was lawful and was consistent with a reasonable interpretation of the Court’s order," and argues that the judge’s subsequent oral order to return the flights was nonbinding.
Judge Boasberg, however, has launched a contempt inquiry, seeking to determine whether Trump officials willfully defied his emergency order. Plaintiffs have requested testimony from nine senior administration officials involved in the decision-making process, including Bove and other Justice Department attorneys. Boasberg has signaled his intent to move quickly, stating, "I intend to proceed just like I did in April, seven months ago," and has ordered parties to submit witness lists for hearings possibly starting in early December 2025.
The controversy has fueled political tensions, with some Republicans in Congress and former President Trump himself criticizing Boasberg as an "activist judge." Subpoenas and calls for testimony have been met with fierce objection from senior administration officials, who argue that the court should not be considering the issue at all. The Justice Department has declined to comment further on the witness list or potential next steps.
As DHS faces a barrage of criticism and legal scrutiny, some experts argue that the department must do more to communicate its policies and successes. "If you don’t tell your own story, your opponents will do it for you," cautioned a long-time Washington observer quoted by the Center for Immigration Studies. With both the border and the nation’s interior in flux, the stakes for immigration policy—and for those caught up in its enforcement—have rarely been higher.
For now, the nation watches as the administration’s strategy unfolds, with courtrooms and communities alike bracing for the next chapter in America’s ongoing immigration saga.
