A recent letter in this paper claimed (Penn Franklin) that today’s immigration enforcement resembles authoritarian rule, where citizens of color must fear being detained without cause. While I respect that concern, the reality of Trump’s policy is very different: enforcement is targeted, lawful, and measurable.

Deportation actions focus on individuals with criminal records, those with outstanding deportation orders, and people who have overstayed visas. Deportations are not based on race or ethnicity—there is no legal criterion that allows that—and courts have upheld many of Trump’s actions as consistent with the Constitution and immigration law, provided due process is preserved.

The results speak for themselves. By September 2025, nearly 170,000 people had been expelled under Trump, with nearly 49,000 removal orders issued in July alone. At the border, illegal crossings have plunged to historic lows: in July, only 4,598 arrests were made at the southern border, and in May, Border Patrol reported zero releases of illegal entrants into the interior—a sharp contrast to the more than 60,000 releases in the same month under Biden. By comparison, during Biden’s presidency, CBP recorded over 7 million migrant encounters, plus estimates of more than a million additional “gotaways.”

Courts have struck down parts of Biden’s parole and asylum programs as unlawful, while in several cases the Supreme Court has permitted Trump’s enforcement measures—such as deportations under long-standing statutes and the rollback of temporary protections—subject to due process requirements.

Trump’s immigration policy is not anti-immigrant. It is pro-law, pro-security, and pro-fairness—restoring order to a system that faltered under his predecessor. The difference is simple: under Biden we had chaos; under Trump we have results.

Andrew Jarabak