A Fox News host warned that Republicans could “stay home” during the November midterms over what she views as the Trump administration’s failure to deliver on mass deportations and voter ID legislation.
Tomi Lahren, co-host of The Big Weekend, voiced her dissatisfaction with the GOP in a Sunday X post, made in response to recent comments by DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin.
During an interview with CNN, Mullin was asked about the fate of hundreds of thousands of Haitians with Temporary Protected Status, following the Supreme Court’s 6-3 ruling last week that the Trump administration can remove them.
Mullin, who replaced Kristi Noem as DHS chief earlier this year, said the Haitians under TPS have a few options: “They can try to apply for a permanent residence here, they can apply for a temporary visa if they choose to, or they can choose to go back. And if they wanna go back, we’ll help them with that.”
Lahren made her frustration with that answer clear.
“So no voter ID and now mass deportations aren’t happening either,” she griped on X. “Why do we elect Republicans?”
“Don’t be surprised when conservatives stay home in November,” she added. “I’m not advocating for it but I won’t be surprised.”
Before his 2024 election, Trump promised to oversee the largest deportation campaign in U.S. history. Although his immigration crackdown has effectively shut the southern border and sharply expanded ICE detention, the administration has fallen short of its goal of 1 million deportations a year.
In January, DHS claimed 2.2 million “self-deportations” and “more than 675,000 deportations” had taken place during Trump’s first year in office. By comparison, 778,000 removals occurred during the final full fiscal year of the Biden administration.
Lahren’s other criticism — “no voter ID” — likely refers to Republicans’ failure to pass the SAVE America Act, a bill that would require proof of citizenship to vote in federal elections.
Trump has made clear that he sees the bill’s passage as a priority ahead of the midterms, but Republican lawmakers have said they don’t have the votes.
“The only way you can get…this done is to nuke the legislative filibuster, and that is not something that we have anywhere close to the votes to do,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said earlier this month.
Lahren, who previously worked for TheBlaze and One America News Network, rose to prominence about a decade ago when her segments criticizing liberal policies went viral. In 2016, The New York Times described her as “the Right’s Rising Media Star.”
In addition to Lahren, several other prominent conservatives, including veteran GOP strategist Karl Rove, have warned that the Republican party could face a midterm shellacking, with some citing Trump’s war in Iran and its spillover effects on the U.S. economy.
