“[paraphrase] We're getting the criminals out first — murderers, drug dealers, the worst of the worst.”
· Campaign rallies and post-election interviews
· ×25
Nonpublic ICE data obtained by the Cato Institute in June 2025 showed a majority of detainees had no criminal conviction and 93% had no violent conviction. By December 2025, about 74% of the nearly 70,000 people in ICE detention had no criminal convictions at all. Enforcement shifted to courthouse, worksite and street arrests of people with no records.
“[paraphrase] We will revoke the temporary protected status of the Haitians in Springfield and send them home.”
· Campaign remarks after the ABC debate, Las Vegas
· ×5
The administration moved to end Haitian TPS but the terminations were repeatedly blocked or delayed in federal court, and PolitiFact still rated the promise Stalled in its January 2026 one-year review.
“[paraphrase] We will immediately reinstate Remain in Mexico.”
· Campaign rallies and the 2024 Republican platform
· ×8
PolitiFact still rated this Stalled at the one-year mark in January 2026. The program requires Mexican cooperation that has not been secured at scale, and the administration relied instead on third-country removals and near-total asylum shutdowns at the border.
“What I want to do and what I will do is you graduate from a college, I think you should get automatically as part of your diploma a green card to be able to stay in this country.”
· 'All-In' podcast interview
The campaign walked the pledge back within hours, and in office the administration moved the opposite direction — restricting student visas, raising H-1B fees and tightening OPT. PolitiFact rated the promise Promise Broken in its January 2026 review; no graduate has received a green card by virtue of a U.S. diploma.
“[paraphrase] We will create a victim compensation fund for Americans harmed by migrant crime, paid for with assets seized from the gangs.”
· Agenda 47 policy plan / campaign rallies
· ×4
No such fund has been created. PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled at the one-year mark in January 2026, with no legislation introduced and no seized-asset mechanism established.
“[paraphrase] We will finish the wall — we're going to finish it quickly.”
· Campaign rallies throughout 2023-2024
· ×40
About 700 miles of primary barrier exist along the roughly 2,000-mile border, with dozens of new miles added since January 2025 and a $2.6 billion contract awarded by June 2026. CBP Commissioner Rodney Scott said in June 2026 the primary wall would not be complete until the end of 2027, with technology in place by mid-2028 — after Trump's stated timeline. Mexico has still never paid for any of it; U.S. taxpayers fund it.
“[paraphrase] On day one I will restore the travel ban, and we'll expand it.”
· Campaign rally, Clive, Iowa
· ×12
Deadline Oct 17, 2023 · 2 years, 11 months overdue
A proclamation covering a list of countries came in June 2025 rather than day one, and PolitiFact still rated the promise Stalled in its January 2026 review because the sweeping 'expanded' ban — including the promised ideological screening and country list Trump described on the trail — was never fully implemented and parts have been narrowed in litigation.
“[paraphrase] We will carry out the largest domestic deportation operation in American history — 15 to 20 million people.”
· Campaign rally, Council Bluffs, Iowa; repeated at nearly every rally through Election Day
· ×100
Removals rose but fell far short of the scale promised and of the 1 million-a-year target. DHS claimed 605,000 deportations from Jan. 20, 2025 to Dec. 10, 2025, while the Deportation Data Project counted roughly 350,000. Trump's second term averaged about 14,700 deportations a month, well under the roughly 36,000 monthly average of Obama's second term. PolitiFact rated the promise Stalled in January 2026.
“I will sign an executive order on day one of my new term in office making clear to federal agencies that under the correct interpretation of the law, going forward, the future children of illegal aliens will not receive automatic US citizenship.”
· Campaign policy video released by the Trump campaign
· ×4
Deadline May 31, 2023 · 3 years, 3 months overdue
Trump did sign the order on January 20, 2025, but a federal judge blocked it three days later on January 23, 2025, calling it 'blatantly unconstitutional.' The policy remained enjoined through subsequent litigation and no child was denied citizenship under it.
“[paraphrase] We're going to have a road to citizenship... I'm going to be signing a big immigration bill in about four weeks.”
· Telemundo interview with Jose Diaz-Balart
· ×3
The White House walked back 'road to citizenship' within days. Four weeks passed with no bill and no executive order, and none ever appeared before Trump left office. What DHS did issue, on July 28, 2020, was a memo restricting new DACA applications, which federal courts later struck down.
“At the request of Democrats, I have delayed the Illegal Immigration Removal Process (Deportation) for two weeks to see if the Democrats and Republicans can get together and work out a solution to the Asylum and Loophole problems at the Southern Border. If not, Deportations start!”
· Twitter, the day before nationwide ICE raids were to begin in about ten cities
· ×2
Deadline Jul 6, 2019 · 7 years, 2 months overdue
Congress did not change asylum law; it passed a $4.5 billion humanitarian border supplemental instead. The two weeks lapsed in early July with no raids and no enforcement of the ultimatum. The operation finally launched on July 14, 2019 and produced only about 35 arrests nationwide, against the 'millions' Trump had advertised on June 17.
The administration announced the rescission of DACA on September 5, 2017 and rejected bipartisan legislative compromises in early 2018. On June 18, 2020 the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in DHS v. Regents that the rescission was arbitrary and capricious. A federal court ordered full reinstatement of the program in December 2020. No permanent protection for roughly 650,000 to 700,000 recipients was enacted.
“We'll be doing something very rapidly having to do with additional security for our country. You'll be seeing that sometime next week.”
· Joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe; repeated on February 16 at his first solo press conference
· ×3
Nothing was signed the following week. A senior official then said 'later in the week'; on February 21 Sean Spicer said the order was 'finalized' and 'awaiting implementation.' A March 1 signing was scrapped so the February 28 joint address to Congress could 'breathe.' Executive Order 13780 was finally signed on March 6, 2017, about three weeks after the deadline.
“[paraphrase] The End Illegal Immigration Act will establish a mandatory two-year minimum federal prison sentence for illegally re-entering the U.S. after a prior deportation.”
· "Contract with the American Voter," Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
· ×5
The End Illegal Immigration Act was never introduced in the first 100 days and no mandatory minimum for re-entry was enacted during the term. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] On day one I will cancel every unconstitutional executive action, memorandum and order issued by President Obama.”
· "Contract with the American Voter," Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
· ×10
Deadline Oct 23, 2016 · 9 years, 10 months overdue
Many Obama-era regulations were rolled back, but the central immigration target, DACA, survived. The Supreme Court blocked its rescission in June 2020 and a federal court ordered full reinstatement of the program in December 2020. PolitiFact rated the promise a compromise on January 4, 2021.
“[paraphrase] We will triple the number of ICE deportation officers.”
· Immigration speech, Phoenix, Arizona
· ×5
A January 2017 executive order called for 10,000 additional ICE officers, but Congress did not fund the expansion. Enforcement and Removal Operations staffing grew only modestly over the term. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] We will cancel all federal funding to sanctuary cities.”
· Immigration speech, Phoenix, Arizona
· ×12
A January 25, 2017 executive order directing the cutoff was blocked by a federal judge in San Francisco in November 2017. Attempts to attach conditions to Byrne JAG grants produced conflicting appellate rulings and were largely enjoined. Funding was not cancelled. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] We will cancel visas to foreign countries that will not take back their citizens we are deporting.”
· Immigration speech, Phoenix, Arizona
· ×4
Visa sanctions were imposed on a handful of countries, including Cambodia, Eritrea, Guinea and Sierra Leone in 2017 and additional countries later, but not on all nations classified as recalcitrant. PolitiFact rated the promise a compromise.
“She'll be holding a press conference over the next couple of weeks... she came in totally legally.”
· Campaign remarks / interviews after reports questioned Melania Trump's early US work visas
· ×2
Deadline Aug 23, 2016 · 10 years overdue
Trump promised his wife would hold a news conference to produce documents proving she entered the US legally. The press conference never happened. In September 2016 her lawyer released a letter instead, and reporting later showed she had worked on a visitor visa before receiving a work visa.
“[paraphrase] Increase fees on all temporary visas issued to Mexican CEOs and diplomats, on border crossing cards and at ports of entry.”
· Campaign memo on making Mexico pay for the wall
· ×3
No increase in visa fees aimed at Mexico was implemented during the term, and the related plan to seize remittances was never pursued. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] A total and complete shutdown of Muslims entering the United States until our country's representatives can figure out what is going on.”
· Campaign statement, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina
· ×30
The first travel ban executive order of January 27, 2017 was enjoined, as was a March 2017 revision. A third version was upheld by the Supreme Court in Trump v. Hawaii on June 26, 2018, but it covered a limited list of countries including non-Muslim-majority Venezuela and North Korea. PolitiFact rated the original promise broken because the restrictions fell short of a religion-based ban.
Syrian refugees already admitted to the United States were not deported. Refugee admissions were sharply reduced, with the annual ceiling cut to 15,000 for fiscal 2021, but no removals of resettled Syrians took place. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] They have to go. We're going to have a deportation force and everyone who is here illegally will leave.”
· NBC "Meet the Press" interview
· ×60
No mass deportation force was created and the undocumented population remained roughly 10.5 to 11 million. ICE removals over the term ran below the peak years of the Obama administration. PolitiFact rated the promise broken in July 2020.
“[paraphrase] Birthright citizenship is the biggest magnet for illegal immigration and it will end.”
· Immigration position paper and NBC "Meet the Press"
· ×10
Trump said in an Axios interview on October 30, 2018 that he would sign an executive order ending birthright citizenship. No such order was issued during the first term and the Fourteenth Amendment guarantee remained in force. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“[paraphrase] We will replace the J-1 visa jobs program for foreign youth with a resume bank for inner-city youth.”
· Campaign immigration position paper
· ×2
The J-1 exchange visitor program was not replaced. A June 2020 proclamation temporarily suspended some J-1 categories during the pandemic, but no inner-city resume bank was created. PolitiFact rated the promise broken.
“I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will have Mexico pay for that wall.”
· Campaign launch speech, Trump Tower, New York
· ×200
Mexico never contributed money for the barrier. Construction was funded by U.S. appropriations plus roughly $10 billion diverted from Defense Department accounts after Trump declared a national emergency in February 2019. By January 2021 about 452 miles of barrier had been built, of which roughly 40 miles was in locations where no barrier previously existed.