A Fox News personality has cautioned that Trump supporters could sit out November’s midterm elections if the president does not follow through on his pledge to carry out large-scale deportations. Tomi Lahren issued the warning on X while responding to a clip from CNN’s Sunday State of the Union. In the segment she shared, Department of Homeland Security head Markwayne Mullin told Jake Tapper that DHS would not promise mass deportations for the roughly 350,000 Haitians expected to lose Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, next year. Instead, Mullin said those immigrants would be given “a couple of choices” that might allow them to remain in the United States. “They can try to apply for a permanent residence here, they can apply for a temporary visa if they choose to, or they can choose to go back. And if they wanna go back, we’ll help them with that,” he said. Lahren, 33, was not appeased, tying the comments to what she described as the administration’s failure to deliver voter ID requirements. A longtime supporter of Trump’s hardline immigration agenda, she wrote: “So no voter ID and now mass deportations aren’t happening either.
Why do we elect Republicans?” Lahren fumed during a commercial break from The Big Weekend Show. “Don’t be surprised when conservatives stay home in November. I’m not advocating for it but I won’t be surprised,” she added. Her remarks came after a Supreme Court ruling on Thursday cleared the way for the administration to deport migrants living in the U.S. under TPS. Haitians first received the protection in 2010, after a catastrophic earthquake killed an estimated 220,000 people and helped fuel years of instability, including the rise of youth gangs and armed groups. Lahren’s post quickly drew significant attention, topping 400,000 views.
Senior administration figures, including White House border czar Tom Homan and former DHS chief Kristi Noem, have repeatedly emphasized plans to expand deportation efforts. During his CNN appearance, Mullin said people losing TPS should “either try to fill out the paperwork and be here underneath a permanent status, or we will help you get back to your country.” He said the government would provide assistance for those who choose to leave, explaining: “We will actually give you a plane ticket, plus roughly $2,100, to help you re-establish when you get there.” Mullin also stressed to Tapper that Temporary Protected Status is, by definition, “not permanent.” He added: “The whole time these individuals have been here underneath the Temporary Protected Status, they could have applied for a visa.”
“They could have applied for LPR [Lawful Permanent Resident status]. They could have applied for different directions,” Mullin said. Immigrants from 11 additional countries are also covered by TPS, and all are scheduled to lose that protection when the policy enacted under George H.W. Bush expires in February. Congress established the designation in 1990 to offer “short-term humanitarian relief” to foreign nationals unable to safely return home, the Supreme Court noted again in its Thursday decision. Mullin, a former Oklahoma senator, was selected last month to succeed Noem. Lahren, who interned for then-Rep. Noem after college in South Dakota, joined The Big Weekend Show as a co-host with Joey Jones last year following eight years at Fox News.
