Staff ReportsWe don’t have to pretend sympathy for lawlessness while our communities suffer; President Trump campaigned on using every tool available to secure the border and remove those here illegally, and senior officials have privately discussed a goal of roughly one million removals as part of that push. This is the kind of blunt promise voters sent him back to Washington to fulfill—no more wink-and-nod policies that reward mass entry and indefinite stays. The debate now is about how to achieve enforcement at scale without bankrupting states or surrendering public safety.
Part of that enforcement strategy has been an aggressive expansion of electronic monitoring: ICE moved to sharply increase the number of immigrants fitted with GPS ankle monitors, moving tens of thousands more into supervised release instead of costly detention. For many conservatives, ankle monitors are a sensible middle ground—people are not left to disappear into the country’s shadows, courts get accountability, and taxpayers avoid the astronomical cost of incarcerating millions. The real issue is whether the system is run efficiently and with the country’s security in mind.
Critics howl at images of distraught migrants being fitted with devices, and the left-wing press reaches for the most emotional footage it can find. But the operational reality shown in procurement notices and agency planning is straightforward: departments signalled vendors to scale up tracking technology because officials expect to supervise vastly more people on the non-detained docket. If you want borders that work, you must have systems that make sure orders of removal are enforceable.
Let’s also be honest about who benefits from chaos: private contractors and legacy interest groups have lined up to profit from the surge in monitoring and detention contracts, and that deserves scrutiny from any conservative who believes in rooting out cronyism. Big vendors that supply devices and manage programs have historic ties to the swamp, and Washington must insist on accountability and competitive procurement while still giving ICE the tools to do its job. Conservatives should demand tough enforcement that is also transparent and fiscally responsible.
Facts matter more than emotional theater. The administration’s own reports show large increases in removals compared with the prior year, but those numbers still fall short of campaign rhetoric about deporting a million people annually—so critics and supporters alike should work from real data, not fevered claims. The right answer is to continue ramping up enforcement capabilities while insisting on clear metrics and honest accounting from DHS and ICE.
Patriots who love this country should support firm, lawful action to end the open-border disaster without surrendering due process or turning America into a cash cow for contractors. If ankle monitors and expedited removal procedures are the practical tools to make arrests, secure removals, and protect Americans, then use them—just do so under conservative principles of efficiency, accountability, and respect for the rule of law. The American people elected leaders to enforce our laws; it’s time to do it smartly and with the nation’s interests first and foremost.
