How the Trump administration is amping up immigrant deportations

By Tamara Keith,

Ximena Bustillo, Mara Liasson

Published July 17, 2025 at 9:06 AM EDT

The big tax and spending bill President Trump signed into law earlier this month included $75 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, and the Supreme Court recently told the administration it could deport people to countries with which they have no ties. We discuss these and other developments that are helping the president accelerate deportation efforts.

This episode: senior White House correspondent Tamara Keith, immigration policy correspondent Ximena Bustillo, and senior national political correspondent Mara Liasson.

This podcast was produced by Casey Morell & Bria Suggs, and edited by Rachel Baye. Our executive producer is Muthoni Muturi.

Listen to every episode of the NPR Politics Podcast sponsor-free, unlock access to bonus episodes with more from the NPR Politics team, and support public media when you sign up for The NPR Politics Podcast+ at plus.npr.org/politics.

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Tamara Keith

Tamara Keith has been a White House correspondent for NPR since 2014 and co-hosts the NPR Politics Podcast, the top political news podcast in America. Keith has chronicled the Trump administration from day one, putting this unorthodox presidency in context for NPR listeners, from early morning tweets to executive orders and investigations. She covered the final two years of the Obama presidency, and during the 2016 presidential campaign she was assigned to cover Hillary Clinton. In 2018, Keith was elected to serve on the board of the White House Correspondents' Association.

See stories by Tamara Keith

Ximena Bustillo

Ximena Bustillo is a multi-platform reporter at NPR covering politics out of the White House and Congress on air and in print.

Mara Liasson

Mara Liasson is a national political correspondent for NPR. Her reports can be heard regularly on NPR's award-winning newsmagazine programs Morning Edition and All Things Considered. Liasson provides extensive coverage of politics and policy from Washington, DC — focusing on the White House and Congress — and also reports on political trends beyond the Beltway.

See stories by Mara Liasson