President Trump could learn about successful deportations from President Obama | Opinion

Deportation data

In his 2024 campaign, President Donald Trump pledged to deport the 20 million undocumented immigrants he claimed were in the U.S. That amounts to 5,000,000 a year or 13,736 deportations a day, working 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year for 4 years. That has not happened and never will.

Instead, Tom Homan, acting director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, estimates that in Trump’s second term they will deport about 2,184,000 (1,500 a day). That’s 11 percent of the goal. Stephen Miller, the White House deputy chief of staff for policy, is now focusing only on arrests, not deportations. Their purported goal was to deport criminals to make America safe. Instead, of international students, immigrants with temporary protected status, humanitarian parolees — so they can arrest and deport them.

In President Barack Obama’s two terms, he deported more people than any other other president in recent US history— in total (5,248,000) and in daily averages (1,802 per day). And he did it without the more than 150 lawsuits, armored vehicles, masked enforcement officers, fear, brutality and disrespect we are seeing today.

Let’s pursue smart, careful immigration policies, instead of performing for TV cameras. Sometimes the right way is the more effective way.

Marilyn Daniel, Versailles

G for “Grift”

It appears the “G” in MAGA stands for “grift,” “graft” and “greed” based on the F(felon)OTUS’s recent pardons. We know he believes these things are acceptable and he should never be blamed for doing them (only his enemies should be prosecuted for these things).

Now he’s set the military against U.S. citizens to keep them from protesting his wishes, even if the protesters are peaceful.

He is an abuser, and the U.S. is the abused. Look at the warning signs and you’ll see he’s met them all, including isolating the U.S. from our allies; doesn’t want us to pay attention to anyone but him; wants us to conform to his world view; blames others for what he does wrong; gets mad and calls the abused names and threatens violence.

He’s working very hard to become our Supreme Leader, exemplified by his birthday military parade, like they do in North Korea and Russia, and his descent into martial law.

He wants to hear and see his name. It makes him feel superior when people do it.

DON’T DO IT.

Glenna Brouse, Lexington

Remembering protests

This letter has been a long time coming. The California fiasco has reminded me of two protests in Louisville.

The first was on or around May 29, 2020. I remember I had to leave at 6:45 p.m. to give my dog an insulin shot. As I pulled out of the parking garage, vehicles suddenly brought in a bunch of folks, many dressed in black. I recognized one as a self-proclaimed anarchist from a Lexington protest (no judgment).

They caused property damage, but we were conveniently blamed. There was immediate police push-back.

The second was on the delayed Kentucky Derby date in 2020. Protestors against Breanna Taylor’s murder were in downtown Louisville. There were snipers there (I’m assuming they were law enforcement). Suddenly hundreds of people (militia? proud boys?) armed with AK-47s and AR-15s marched toward us in formation. The snipers immediately left us unprotected. I was frightened for about 5 seconds. Then I wasn’t.

I’m still not.

Leslie Brown McBride, Waddy

Juvenile Justice

Another Herald-Leader article about Kentucky’s Juvenile Justice system’s “oops.” Another comment from the Commissioner Randy White where he once again emphasizes his efforts to fix numerous problems. Here is a suggestion: Completely unannounced visits to every site on an irregular schedule. Don’t tell your staff. Just drive to a site and do a complete walk around.

Based on a 21-year Navy career with seven years sea duty and another 27 years with Kentucky OSHA doing compliance inspections for unsafe health exposures – think chemical, noise, etc. The physical condition of a workplace is an important indicator of the management’s mind set. The Herald-Leader article mentioned several instances where the management at the Adair facility did not address a host of easily identifiable physical problems. An answer to why that did not happen comes to mind: No one is looking, at least closely and thoroughly.

With only eight facilities, I cannot come up with anything that would explain why Randy White did not personally, as in on-site personally, know about the physical condition of the Adair site. Nor can I come up with a reason the Governor has not fixed the Randy White problem.

Bennie G. Patton, Berea

Fayette schools

Herald-Leader columnist Linda Blackford is rarely critical of the public-school establishment’s perspective, as seen in her staunch opposition to Amendment 2 and other issues.

However, her sharp critique of the Fayette County Public Schools board’s illegal and opaque process to impose a new tax is refreshing and vital. It also proved effective, as the board canceled its final vote on the tax hike on June 23.

FCPS board members Amanda Ferguson and Monica Mundy also deserve praise for opposing the tax increase, recognizing the burden it would place on working families.

State Auditor Allison Ball, responding to taxpayer frustration, announced an audit of FCPS for good reason. For one, as Blackford noted, the tax plan aimed to raise double the amount that FCPS claimed was needed for its budget shortfall, casting doubt on the district’s financial assertions.

What other claims made by the district might be questionable?

Taxpayers deserve transparency and accountability from FCPS, not tactics that erode trust. The Herald-Leader’s scrutiny is a step toward ensuring the school board serves the community more responsibly.

Jim Waters, Vine Grove, (President of Bluegrass Institute for Public Policy Solutions)

Musk v. Trump

Elon Musk is madder than hell! He paid half a billion dollars for President Donald Trump to make him a co-president! When the American people and Tesla owners started turning against Musk, and Republicans started losing elections, it was time for Musk to go! Trump had to put a muzzle on him, because Musk was trying to boss Congressional Republicans around! He was making decisions on his own, bypassing Congress altogether! Trump just sat back and enjoyed the chaos - until they started to lose election.

Trump promised Musk something to get him to fork over $240,000,000. Remember, it felt like Musk was the president instead of Trump for a long time. We know Elon Musk wore out his welcome before Trump’s second win, but Trump couldn’t criticize Musk before then because Musk paid him $240,000,000! CNN reported that Musk outed Trump as being a regular visitor at Epstein’s island. Musk might know something about Russian President Vladimir Putin’s connection to Trump.

It’s about to get very ugly people! Secrets are about to be exposed! What a mess! Where’s my popcorn?

Yolanda Averette, Lexington

SS data access

I am horrified that the U.S. Supreme Court is allowing DOGE to access the private consequential Social Security data of all U. S. citizens. The court’s legal judgement fails to recognize the dangerous realities involved.

In addition to being an unvetted, politically motivated, and a dangerously incompetent government destruction squad (i.e. firing those who oversee our nuclear weapons), DOGE is now under the leadership of Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, and one of the authors of Project 2025. If the Supreme Court justices read Project 2025, and followed Vought’s history and public interviews, they would discover that his primary goal is to dismantle the U.S. Constitution.

Vought is aggressively and strategically working to move judicial power to the executive branch. He intends to replace democratic governance with dictatorship, undo the separation of church and state, and require conformity by every U. S. citizen to the all-consuming oppressive and regressive mandates of Project 2025. It is inevitable that the data collected by DOGE will be utilized for a government surveillance system being developed for President Donald Trump by Peter Thiel. Handing Vought access to our Social Security data further enables him and Trump’s treasonous crime and corruption. The Supreme Court needs to wake up.

Beverly C Johnson-Miller, Lexington

Edited by Liz Carey

This story was originally published June 12, 2025 at 9:12 AM.