President Donald Trump blasted Fox News anchor Shannon Bream on Friday after she reported that immigration enforcement under former President Barack Obama was “comparable” to the Trump administration’s record, insisting the numbers “aren’t even close.”
The president used two Truth Social posts to defend his administration’s immigration record while accusing critics of relying on misleading statistics.
“It was just announced that, and I’m not necessarily thrilled to be talking about it because it does not exactly sound NICE, the Trump Administration has the Highest Average Daily Arrest Rate by ICE and CBP, including Total Detention, with Final Orders of Removal, than any other president, by far!” Trump wrote.
Trump acknowledged that ongoing court battles have slowed the pace of deportations but argued his administration still leads every previous administration in removals.
“The pending Final Orders are being seriously delayed by the Courts, but that is also a record,” he wrote. “President Trump has the Highest 12 Month Removal Total, by far, of any president, despite the fact that they fudge their numbers by including people that never even tried to come into the Country.”
He also claimed his administration has recorded the highest average daily apprehensions and repatriations in American history.
“Likewise, the Average Daily Catch and Repatriation is, by far, the Highest under President Trump. No other president comes close,” he wrote.
Trump then singled out Bream by name after she discussed comparisons between his immigration numbers and those recorded during the Obama administration.
“So, when you hear these Anchors, Pundits, Dumocrats, and Communists, try to make the case that President Obama’s numbers are comparable to President Trump, it would be nice if people like ‘Milk Toast’ Shannon Bream, and others, would put up a little fight — Just a little. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
Trump appeared to misspell “milquetoast,” a word commonly used to describe someone as timid or unwilling to challenge others. It’s not clear if he meant to do so.
The president returned to the subject in a second Truth Social post, arguing that Obama- and Biden-era immigration statistics counted people who never actually entered the United States.
“For all of those who like to say that Barack Hussein Obama, and his Vice President, Sleepy Joe Biden, did as many Criminal ICE removals as President Trump, the figures are just in,” Trump wrote.
“Number One, they included hundreds of thousands of people that never came close to getting into our Country, a difference of perhaps 50% in the numbers.”
“We don’t include such categories but, even if we did, ICE and CBP removed many more Illegal Aliens under President Trump than under Obama — It’s not even close!”
During the Obama administration, immigration officials frequently counted returns at the border, expedited removals and other enforcement actions together when reporting overall deportation statistics. Immigration analysts have long noted that changes in how removals are categorized can make direct comparisons between administrations difficult.
Trump has repeatedly argued that his administration uses stricter accounting methods and therefore believes comparisons with previous administrations understate the scale of current enforcement efforts.
Immigration has remained one of the defining issues of Trump’s second term. Since returning to office, the administration has expanded Immigration and Customs Enforcement operations nationwide while increasing arrests, detention capacity and deportation flights.
The White House has also fought a series of legal battles over deportation authority and has accused federal courts of slowing enforcement through injunctions and lengthy litigation.
Friday’s posts represent Trump’s latest public push to defend his administration’s immigration record while challenging media coverage that compares his enforcement numbers to those of previous presidents, Mediaite reported.
Whether the competing statistics ultimately tell the full story remains a subject of debate among immigration experts. Trump, however, made clear he believes the numbers speak for themselves.
“No other president comes close,” he wrote.
