In a Democrat presidential debate in September 2019, presidential candidate Joe Biden said he “would in fact make sure that there is — we immediately surge to the border all those people [who] are seeking asylum.” It was one of his countless sanctimonious “that’s who we are” moments. We all know the result of the intentional invasion he invited as a candidate and allowed as president, and we all know that Donald Trump was elected to fix it.

“There are millions of people, at least 15 million and perhaps as many as 20 million, who are in the United States illegally,” writes political analyst Byron York. “Millions of illegal migrants are new arrivals with no claim to stay in the U.S., having arrived in the mass border incursion of the Biden years. Many should be deported. But in our system, it is very hard to deport millions of people. It is easier to get them to deport themselves.”

It’s working. The last week brings several news items that show why illegals are motivated to leave.

Tom Homan, Trump’s border czar, has been a key public face of deportation. On Sunday, he reiterated a warning: “You can expect action in sanctuary cities across the country.” Action means raids by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, and those raids could happen anywhere. Why sanctuaries? Because, Homan said, they “knowingly release illegal aliens, public safety threats, to the streets.”

Roughly 70% of ICE arrests so far are of charged or convicted criminals, and far too many of them are murderers.

Chicago

One particular sanctuary city, Chicago, got a lot of attention over the weekend. Trump posted a meme that said, “I love the smell of deportations in the morning,” and he added, “Chicago [is] about to find out why it’s called the Department of WAR.” Obviously, Trump told reporters later, “We’re not going to war.” However, “We’re going to clean up our cities,” and that means illegal immigration, as well as other crime.

The meme may have been completely over the top, but it was one of those “take me seriously, not literally” things.

On Monday, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) launched Operation Midway Blitz, a targeted effort to apprehend illegal immigrants. “President Trump and Secretary [Kristi] Noem stand with the victims of illegal alien crime,” said DHS, “while [Illinois Democrat] Governor [JB] Pritzker stands with criminal illegal aliens.”

DHS is launching Operation Midway Blitz in honor of Katie Abraham who was killed in a drunk driving hit-and-run car wreck caused by criminal illegal alien Julio Cucul-Bol in Illinois.

This ICE operation will target the criminal illegal aliens who flocked to Chicago and Illinois… pic.twitter.com/OjbgtTE1Au

— Homeland Security (@DHSgov) September 8, 2025

Pritzker retorted that Trump is a “wannabe dictator,” and Chicago socialist Mayor Brandon Johnson said on X, “The President’s threats are beneath the honor of our nation.”

Boston

Another sanctuary city, Boston, saw some action, too. “ICE launched ‘Patriot 2.0’ to target the worst of the worst criminal illegal aliens living in the state of Massachusetts, following the success of Operation Patriot in May,” said a DHS spokesman. “Sanctuary policies like those pushed by Mayor [Michelle] Wu not only attract and harbor criminals but also place these public safety threats above the interests of law-abiding American citizens.” In fact, “ICE is arresting sex offenders, pedophiles, murderers, drug dealers, and gang members released by local authorities.”

Massachusetts Democrat Governor Maura Healey decried the raids as “political theater,” a “power grab,” and “an attempt to intimidate.”

What do Democrats expect after Boston spent the last decade defying more than 200 detainer requests from federal immigration authorities?

Los Angeles

A great deal of the showdown between Trump and Democrats began in Los Angeles, where the “coexist” people burned stuff to protest ICE raids. Well, on Monday, the Supreme Court lifted a lower-court order blocking the Trump administration from “roving patrols” in LA.

In July, U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong ruled that the raids couldn’t continue due to their racial component. The Supreme Court said that’s nonsense because enforcement depends on what Justice Brett Kavanaugh called the “totality of the circumstances.”

California Democrat Governor Gavin Newsom had a meltdown: “Trump’s hand-picked Supreme Court majority just became the Grand Marshal for a parade of racial terror in Los Angeles.”

Georgia

It’s not just illegals who’ve committed other crimes, of course. ICE agents descended on a Hyundai plant and an LG Energy Solutions facility in Georgia last Thursday, netting 475 illegal workers — both those who had illegally crossed the border and those who had overstayed their visas. More than 300 of the workers are South Koreans; most of the others are Mexican. Both companies are Korean-owned.

According to NBC News, it “was the largest single-site enforcement operation in the history of the Department of Homeland Security.”

“I am hereby calling on all Foreign Companies investing in the United States to please respect our Nation’s Immigration Laws,” President Trump posted on Truth Social. “Your Investments are welcome, and we encourage you to LEGALLY bring your very smart people, with great technical talent, to build World Class products, and we will make it quickly and legally possible for you to do so. What we ask in return is that you hire and train American Workers.”

Many businesses and others worry about the economic impact of raids that target workers, not just those with further criminal records. Yes, there are tradeoffs to enforcing laws that have been ignored. That doesn’t mean ignoring those laws is the right thing to do.

Finally, Trump’s team has found 22,638 of the 200,000 to 300,000 missing kids who crossed the border as “unaccompanied minors” but were lost by the Biden administration. Tragically, 27 were found dead — often the victims of murder, suicide, or a drug overdose. According to John Fabbricatore, HHS Office of Refugee Resettlement senior advisor, some “have been raped” and/or are “treated like sexual slaves.” Others were “being made to work off debt.”

Fabbricatore said Team Biden was inputting incorrect information about many of the kids, which makes the present investigation that much harder.

Though there are seemingly endless individual horrors resulting from the humanitarian crisis created by “compassionate” Democrats (and more than a few enabling Republicans), there is also a lot of success right now in rectifying the situation. “We have the most secure border in the history of this nation,” Tom Homan said on Friday. Speaking of the administration’s success — which is thanks to examples like the above of enforcement and messaging — Homan added, “Even I am amazed.”

We are, too.

Follow Nate Jackson on X/Twitter.