The agents carrying out Donald Trump's mass deportation programme are, by their own account, running on exhaustion and frustration rather than the triumphant momentum the White House projects. Multiple current and former Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak to the press, describe an agency straining under record arrest quotas and cancelled leave. They also point to a shift away from investigating serious crimes such as trafficking and gang activity.
Several told reporters they still support immigration enforcement as a principle, yet feel the execution has become chaotic and, at times, unsustainable. One veteran officer summed up the mood bluntly: 'No one is happy.'
