From Washington: The President’s Massive ICE Operation
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Sunday, March 16th, 2025. I'm Jessica Rosenthal. Immigration officials say they've now arrested just about as many illegal aliens in the interior of the U.S. in the first 50 days of the Trump administration as they did in all of the prior fiscal year. This is only the beginning, I think. Even though these numbers are good, I think they're going to get even better and much larger. Not enough ships, not enough munitions, not enough unmanned vehicles. Those were some of the takeaways from a hearing this past week about

about how prepared our military is. We have to be more prepared in spending the precious little time that we have left to grow our industrial base so that when the fighting starts, we're able to refocus our industrial base, grow it rapidly, and put it on a wartime footing. This is the Fox News Rundown from Washington. ♪upbeat music playing♪

Immigration Customs Enforcement says they've arrested nearly 33,000 illegal aliens in the interior of the U.S. in the first 50 days of the Trump administration. And that was just about the same amount arrested in the entire 2024 fiscal year.

President Trump's border czar Tom Homan told Fox's Sean Hannity this past week. We got beds being built in Guantanamo Bay. We're up to 30,000 beds in Guantanamo Bay. I got hundreds of sheriffs coming to me wanting us to buy their beds in their jails. So the sheriffs are stepping up. We got more 287G agreements now, Sean, we've ever had in history of this nation. So we're going to keep moving. President Trump did in three weeks what Joe Biden couldn't do in four years. Of those arrested in the interior, over 14,000 were convicted. Criminals over 9,900 have

pending charges. Fox News has been told by ICE that during the Biden administration, thousands of criminal aliens were arrested and we were told they were part of arrest statistics. But in reality, they ended up being released into American communities. President Trump responded to this Thursday. The numbers were totally fake and he gave fake numbers. I knew they were fake. Everybody knew they were fake. But now it came out.

and terrible what they did. That administration was a horror show for this country. Now, though, as arrests mount, we have more than 47,000 illegal aliens in ICE custody and detention bed capacity is maxed out now. I'm not surprised in the sense that I knew this was going to happen under the Trump administration, but it kind of brought me to, you know, remember

what happened under the b his first year and him pu all deportation victor Av special agent. It was jus from the prior administrat going to be serious on e laws, especially in the One thing was the border, is the interior enforcemen were to be removed. And

This is only the beginning, I think. Even though these numbers are good, I think they're going to get even better and much larger.

How did it happen so quickly? Because what you're saying matters, right? You're saying that there was a stop put to it. If it was able to be done in 50 days, you know, numbers nearly the same as the number of arrests in all of fiscal year 24, then that means this was doable the whole time? I mean, how did this happen so quickly? It was absolutely doable the whole time. And really what it comes down to is that

The Biden administration didn't allow the especially ICE enforcement removal operations to do their job. There was no enforcement. These a lot of my colleagues were

handcuffed to their desks. They didn't allow them to go to the field and look for these individuals that started accumulating very, very quickly. And we're talking about different categories of illegals here. Prior deports, people that were ordered deported by an immigration judge, people that came into the criminal justice system with new charges. So there was plenty to do. It's just that Biden did not allow them to do it. Plain and simple as that. So now,

They've unleashed all the authority back to these officers to conduct and, uh,

use and the scope of their duties back on behalf of the American people. Victor, we're maxed out on bed space now, though, apparently, right? We've arrested roughly 48,000 illegal aliens and are in detention now. That's on top of the there's some previous numbers in there, but that's a lot of folks. What what does that mean to have that many people in detention? Where do we go from here for maxed out?

That's a great question because, so several things. One, there's going to be more bed space coming through independent contractors, which I even have gotten calls from people that they're ready. They have thousands of beds available, but...

The government has, you know, have to catch up and get the contracts issued. And I know with Doge and other things happening, that has kind of stalled that process. But eventually it'll be mainstream and we'll get a lot additional bed spaces with a lot of facilities out there, by the way, ready to go. And another thing is.

The individual that's processed out, each individual illegal that's here that is caught and processed is a very different process. A lot of people think that you grab them and just literally put them on the plane and remove them, and it actually doesn't work that way. There's an immigration due process that keeps them in detention for several days, several weeks, sometimes even months. And you're going to see that also become...

a more well oiled machine as bodies go in and out. And you'll see that movement going right now. Once these initial bodies start moving out, you'll get the new ones in and then you'll start seeing this continuous movement a lot more smoother. - That brings to mind though that we, these cases do need to be adjudicated. You do need immigration judges. And we know that the Trump administration has actually fired a couple of judges. I think it,

I was reading like five in Texas. What's the thinking there then if we need those judges to adjudicate these cases?

So one is judges, believe it or not, most, at least in my experience, a lot of the illegals do not go or do not choose to go in front of an immigration judge. They do have that right. Some do not. For example, if you're here caught on an overstay, a visa overstay, there is no judge. That process doesn't exist. You actually do get caught.

caught and removed as soon as possible. So it depends how you came in. It depends what country you're from. There's a lot of things here and it gets a little bit complicated. Yes, immigration judges are needed. We need more because more and more illegals are requesting to go through the entire process

keeping the detention longer and holding up the backlog of what's happening right now. You said, I was going to ask you, are we going to see like, because we're maxed out on vet space, do we see some sort of makeshift detention facilities built? But it sounds like you're saying you're getting calls from contractors who are like ready to go. What does that mean in terms of, are we talking about contractors that have like just a giant warehouse or what does this look like?

That's right. These contractors have facilities, detention facilities, bed space ready to go. And I know that those contracts will probably soon be issued and we're going to get additional thousands of bed space.

Once you start talking detention, it's very different than the processing facilities that the Biden administration built. Now, I know they're taking some of these down. I always suggested that these processing facilities that were built, that I've been to a lot of them, by the way, on the Texas border, should be converted to detention facilities since they're already built.

You have to, you know, their processing facilities are different than detention facilities. You have in detention, you're now in a secure facility designated, separated by either, you know, gender, female, family groups, single adult males and all that stuff. And so, yeah,

I would hope that the Trump administration would consider turning some of these into a detention facilities because they're already built. It would be a lot quicker than to build brand new ones. But but I think I was surprised that one was taken down in Arizona.

One of the flag that was operating in one in Texas, I believe in Del Rio, is also being brought down and shut down. And like, well, I really don't want to see them shut down. I want to see them converted to be used to process the individuals in the other way out the other direction out. What are you seeing being shut down?

The processing facilities at the Biden administration, these soft-sided facilities, these tents that the Biden administration built. I mean, I've been to a lot of them. And the Donna facility in Del Rio, Eagle Pass, El Paso, Texas, Lorraine. I've been to a lot of them. And they're big and they're state-of-the-art. And I'm thinking, well, they're already here. Why not put beds in them?

and use them to then process the people going outwards. And I'm not sure what's happening with that.

Interesting. We'll stay on top of that aspect. So our own Fox News correspondent, Bill Malusian, he's reporting that the Biden administration's ICE and immigration officials told everyone that they had made a certain number of ICE arrests, right? Arrest is the word, but that actually tens of thousands of those arrests were people who ended up just being released back into our communities, but they were initially called arrests. Is that

problematic or is that just how they handled those arrests even if in your mind they should have been deported i'm so glad that bill brought this up because i've been talking about this for a long time it's it's the uh the terminology that the biden administration used like arrest

apprehension, encounter, if you remember. Oh, we encountered so many individuals. Problem with those terms is that none of these people were actually removed. Well, I shouldn't say none of them. Very few of them were actually removed back to their home country. Most of them were allowed in, although they counted them as a encountered arrest detention. And you could argue that technically, yes, they were in custody at one point,

Most of them, if you remember, came up and voluntarily gave themselves up. And they stood in front of a Border Patrol agent. And it was a quick process. And then they were released to an NGO to be released further into the United States and put on a bus or an airplane. I witnessed it many, many times. I even flew with them in a lot of airplanes. So, yes, it's very misleading that they were suffocating.

securing the nation by arresting illegal aliens, that's absolutely not true. Wow. Finally, before we let you go, Victor, tell me, have you heard about this new CBP Home app? It's, I guess, maybe the opposite of the CBP One app from the Biden administration years, but it allows you to report that you are self-deporting. Do you think anyone's going to use this? And do we know what kinds of information people are giving up about themselves as they self-deport?

Well, first of all, I think it's a good idea. And yeah, it's kind of quite the opposite of CBP One app. But I think there's a group of illegals that could actually take advantage of this in a good, positive way for both the U.S. and them and their families. And these are a lot of individuals that came, especially the last four years, that are not

really categorized as an economic migrant. You know, a lot of times people, we think every migrant that comes to the US is a very poor migrant and that's not true. As a matter of fact, a lot of well-to-do people from all over the world, I talk to them, I encounter them,

were professionals, doctors, lawyers, CPAs, electricians, business owners. They sold their homes, they sold their businesses, and they took advantage that the border was wide open. And they came from their countries, Colombia, South America, all over the world. And they had money. They were okay. And I think this is where they could take advantage and say, you know what?

Let's go back. Let's regroup. Let's get our business together. We'll actually register with DHS and let them know that we're good people. We're not going to be a public charge to the United States. We're here to, we actually want to become Americans and want to assimilate to this country, which is something that I think has been missed in the last decade or so. And

and then have the opportunity to do it because you heard Secretary Noem say, if you don't do it that way, you're going to be barred from ever coming into the United States. So I think there is a good chunk, and I'm talking about possibly millions of people that could fall into this category that can take advantage of this app. We'll stay on top of it. Victor Avila, retired ICE supervisory special agent. Thank you so much for joining us.

Thank you for having me.

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At a military readiness hearing this week before the Senate Armed Services Committee, we learned the Navy and Marines have an issue with the number of ships they have, in particular amphibious warships. Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps, General Christopher Mahoney, testified. We are very concerned with the condition of the amphibious fleet and the availability of the amphibious fleet out of this morning. I check it every morning.

There were 13 of 32 amphibious ships available. That number is not going to do it. Montana Republican Senator Tim Sheehy focused on unmanned systems, including drones. Just like every infantry squad has an automatic weapon, every infantry squad should have an organic weapon.

SUAS offensive capability, a backpack full of FPVs that they can fly at and into the enemy maneuver units and disrupt them, just like we're seeing all over the world in battlefields from Iranian proxy groups to the Russia-Ukraine war. The vice chief of staff of the Army, General James Mingus, said the way the branches are funded with continuing resolutions rather than approved budgets, along with the amount they actually get, is harming readiness. Ultimately, the Army can afford a large, ready,

or modern force, but with the current budget, it cannot afford all three. Either we provide soldiers the capabilities needed to win or accept greater risks in other areas. Operating office CR or continuing resolution rather than a budget means they can't start new projects, including modernization. Mingus says our adversaries are moving faster than we are. When it comes to budgets, the last few years, Congress in a bipartisan way has been more willing to

to enforce a budget over what President Biden submitted twice, which in living memory, I'd never seen or heard. Brent Sadler is a senior research fellow for naval warfare and advanced technology at the Heritage Foundation. And I actually went back to my father, would have gone to my grandfather, both with long years of government service stretching back decades. Father's case all the way back to the 70s, never heard of that. So Congress is acting. It's bigger question is, can it be consistent?

So we'll see. So yes on that one. When it comes to the gaps, we need to have straight talkers coming up to the Hill and explaining exactly what the military needs. When they have to make trade-offs, they need to know

Congress members need to know what they're forcing the trade-offs to be and then direct money in a way that mitigates the risk. And sadly, we've not really taken the action that we needed to to build a military. You know, the real time would have been 10 years ago, 15 years ago, to build a military that would have deterred the Chinese, prevented the Russians from doing what they've done across Europe, most notably in Ukraine. But we didn't.

And now, as China is getting really aggressive in the West, I was just in Manila in Singapore just a few weeks ago, confirms what we've spent, many of us that follow these things at sea in the Western Pacific, the Chinese are not deterred. So we have to change the way we behave.

in the hope that we can still try to regain some deterrence of the Chinese or delay them in some respect. But if you just saw the news, there's some video that's coming out, if it's corroborated, looks like the Chinese now have a massive bridging kind of device that can actually be useful for an invasion of Taiwan. I mean, these things are huge to basically build a pier like we tried to do in Gaza. It was an abject failure. The Chinese have taken that and gone to a whole other scale.

So what can we do if the Chinese are dead set on a path to war in the very near future, in like the next three to five years per se?

The only thing that we can do, and this is where the commercial shipbuilding piece comes in, is we need to grow our industrial base. Because if war is a foregone conclusion in Beijing's mind, it doesn't matter what we think in this. If they think they can go in a war and win, there'll be a war. And we have to be more prepared in spending the precious little time that we have left to grow our industrial base so that

When the fighting starts, we're able to refocus our industrial base, grow it rapidly, and put it on a wartime footing. We're not ready right now, sadly. But that's the only thing we have time for really left, change how we operate. But more importantly, probably, unfortunately, more likely is need to just grow the industrial base.

There were a couple of focuses at the hearing. Amphibious warfighter ships, this is both a Navy and American problem, it sounded like, and it was described as this kind of a big problem. It sounds like there's a maintenance issue. What can you tell us, like in simple terms, like what's the problem here and why we don't have – it sounds like we have them, they're just not in rotation anymore.

Yeah, the problem is that the world's become much more dangerous, and so you don't have the luxury of keeping the ships in port as long as you need for maintenance and repair. And you're also wearing out the sailors and the marines, quite frankly. So too few ships is the root cause of this problem. And the next thing is we don't have enough shipyards. Going back to that industrial point that I made earlier, we don't have the capacity to sustain a fleet that's needed, and we have to grow ships.

We're basically in the beginnings of growing pains. It took a while in the hearing before we got more into UAS or drones, but boy, that was Montana Senator Sheehy's main focus. I heard that we simply are not on par with our adversaries, like how we use drones, how many we have, that we should be able to deploy them, it sounds like, with much greater ease. What is the drone issue?

Yeah, I mean, if you go back four or five years ago, the question from Congress and this both parties, both the House and the Senate was reliability. Well, the Navy's done shoreside testing as Congress mandated. And last year, the outgoing secretary of the Navy put a hold on going to series orders, a production of a medium or larger medium unmanned vessel, a

This is the same type of ship, the US Mariner, that was tested and shot a Standard Missile 6 off the coast of California successfully and took out a target. It's also the same platform that just last year completed a deployment to Japan, Australia, and Guam and back home. So these platforms need to go into serial production now.

get six of them out there and learn by doing. And that's the industry that builds them, the people that do the technical fabrication, the autonomous piece, but then also the sailors and officers that have to operate and maintain these. They're already standing up a squadron, a full-time squadron in San Diego to do just this. So in my mind,

When it comes to unmanned and I think Senator Xi is kind of getting out a little bit. It's more than the aircraft drones It's more than the little guys like look like speed boats The Ukrainians have used a great effect in the Pacific you need something that can stay at sea for 30 days to 180 days and so We're on the cusp of that we need to just move forward learn by doing We don't need to buy 20 of these things right out of the gates, but we need to get like six of them start

putting them to sea and actually start to move the needle in the deterrence factor with China so that's that's important so when I when I say UAS and I think drones that's incorrect it's really any unmanned vehicle including in the water that's right and under the water too um another thing that got mentioned was munitions were low we've been low it feels like for a couple years when you say industrial base is that what you're talking about like why can't we catch up here

Yeah, that's part of it. I mean, part of it is just building ships and all the associated subsystems and having the ports and the cranes. That's a big problem. Thankfully, that's – and even the president's talking about it very aggressively. And action requires presidential-level attention for it to be effective. So this is a huge change in the last 20, 30 years, quite frankly, as a president –

It seems to be fully engaged and focused in on this maritime dilemma. But you're right. The munitions is another serious problem. You need a platform to close with the enemy, but you want to have a weapon that you can launch at them outside their range to hurt you. This is an age-old fact of reality on the battlefield. You want to be able to get close enough that you can get to your enemy without them hitting you, so you want long-range munitions.

So the industrial problem there has been known. It has been admired. I want to say in my professional career, at least since 2012, 13. But when it's not a new problem, the Ukraine war exposed it out in the open that we haven't improved where we need to.

But when Secretary Mattis came in, he classified all the discussions about this, the munitions piece. So the public scrutiny, the open hearings in Congress have largely kind of obscured this problem. And I think we haven't been able to hold those accountable for making as much forward progress as needed. So I think there's an oversight problem.

needed on this to at least get a public awareness of how far we've come since, say, 2012 from my perspective, but also how far we need to go and what assistance is needed. Don't have to go in the classified and say where in the supply chain the issues are, but we need to let the public know that this is money that is well spent and we have to grow this. And so I think that's probably enough on that point.

Okay. The president though, to your point, he recently said he'd love to have a conference, I'm sure you heard this, with some of our adversaries like China and Russia and talk about cutting defense spending. I think he said by as much as like half. What's your reaction and what have you heard in terms of reaction? Is that sort of like an ideal, like in an ideal world, this is what we could do? Or is he, do you feel like this is a serious goal?

One of the things I've learned about diplomacy, there's several different approaches, and one of the things I learned from my time in Southeast Asia is there's this thing called shadow puppets. If you're looking at the puppet, you're missing the show. In other words, if you're following the rhetoric, you're missing what the real intent is. So when a statement like that's made, what's the intended effect?

Maybe one effect of this, and this is where I think my heart sat on this one. The analysis will come later as more details. But I think it's part to get the Chinese, the Russians, and the others, our adversaries, to basically defend their very large interests.

as a portion of their GDP expenditures on military so that everyone understands that for decades now, the Chinese Communist Party has been spending very large amounts, more than they publicly announced, on their defense and they have no willingness to slow it down. Finally for you, the silver lining I think at this hearing was that it sounds like recruitment is way up.

And what happened in 2024 that that we just saw this explosion of interest in joining up? Yeah. So I think DEI and the media advertising that went along with it in the Biden administration alienated and distracted people from the core mission so much that it had an effect. And so there's a causal effect there. You know, recruitment was basically meeting numbers. The Biden team comes in in 2021. The numbers tank.

They start to course correct last year when it became obvious that their approach, their DEI-centric approach to recruiting and identity as a reason for joining the military started to crater. So they shifted. And you saw some of the numbers come back up.

during the later part of the Biden administration. But as soon as it was clear that a new administration was coming in and it was a refocus, I think you saw a massive return in recruiting because all Americans, this is DEI is Marxist at its core. It's alienating and it's divisive.

no matter what background you come from. And the military needs to do a better job of getting into more communities. Congress needs to help them do that. But I think this focus in on patriotism, mission, success, and competency, that those factors actually brought more people back in. There's no more egalitarian institution in the United States, in our democratic republic, than the U.S. military. And there's nothing more...

getting to equality than the reality of life or death on the battlefield. You either succeed or you die. And so your competency and your teamwork, camaraderie matter and nothing else does in the battlefield. As the Ukrainian soldiers right now slugging it out in the Dome Vals. Brent Sadler, thank you so much for joining us. Appreciate your time. Yeah, thank you. Hope that's useful.

I'm Jared Halpern. Tomorrow on the Fox News Rundown, Nebraska Senator Republican Deb Fischer gives an update on the path forward to the one big, beautiful tax bill President Trump wants from Congress. Until then, thanks for listening to the Fox News Rundown from Washington.

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