First Lady Melania Trump has recently been part of conversations with her husband, President Donald Trump, and his top advisors about his administration’s immigration policies, according to The Wall Street Journal.
This Thursday, the outlet reported that the president “has become convinced that some of his administration’s deportation policies have gone too far,” and now believes that voters “don’t like the term ‘mass deportation,’” citing “people familiar with the matter.” Overall, the report said that Trump is “seeking to lower the profile of his mass deportation effort.”
It’s not the first sign that Trump might be trying to pull back on his administration’s immigration rhetoric. Earlier this month, he announced that Sen, Markwayne Mullin (R-Okla.) would replace Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem at the end of March.
Noem oversaw a period of immigration crackdowns that included Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, Minn. That crackdown resulted in two highly publicized deaths of U.S. citizens at the hands of federal agents who were supposed to be focused on illegal aliens – Renee Good and Alex Pretti.
After she characterized Good and Pretti as domestic terrorists, Noem faced backlash, even from Republicans. Immigration – a key issue for Trump’s base and for his 2024 presidential campaign – had become controversial among the GOP by late January, Audacy reported.
Now, Trump has “directed his top advisers to adopt a new approach on one of his central campaign promises,” The Wall Street Journal’s report said. He wants more attention on arresting “bad guys” and less chaos in U.S. cities, said the report.
While the first lady often likes to keep a low profile as far as politics are concerned, Trump had said before that he discusses issues with her. For example, she weighed in about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and about Russian President Vladimir Putin. Melania is originally from Solvenia, located near Russia and Ukraine.
“I go home, I tell the first lady: ‘I spoke with Vladimir today. We had a wonderful conversation,’” Trump said in July 2025. “She said: ‘Oh really? Another city was just hit.’”
Melania, who premiered her self-titled documentary this January, has also publicly taken up select causes such as her “Be Best” campaign for children’s health. Last year, she championed legislation prohibiting the publication of revenge pornography online and efforts to reunify children displaced by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Poll results released by YouGov released March 3 showed that support for abolishing Immigration and Customs Enforcement, a sub-agency of the DHS that has been involved in the immigration crackdowns, hit a new high. Half of Americans supported abolishing the agency. Democrats were the most likely to support abolishing ICE at 77%, along with 52% of Republicans and 23% of Republicans.
In a Friday Truth Social post, Trump’s concerns about borders and immigration were low on a list of issues he mentioned as he encouraged his supporters to get out to the polls in November.
“Every true MAGA supporter and Republican, if they truly care about saving our Country, will do everything in their power to unify together, and defeat the Crazed Radical Left Democrats this November,” said the president. “If they seize power, they will spend every minute trying to ‘turn back the clock’ to Record Inflation, Skyrocketing Prices, High Taxes, Open Borders, Men in Women’s Sports, Transgender for Everybody, Corrupt Elections, “Get Out of Jail Free Cards” for Violent Criminals, and Terrorists, and much more.”