President Donald Trump has vowed to deliver the largest deportation operation in U.S. history. But even with federal resolve, success will depend on something far more elusive than campaign promises: cutting through the bureaucratic sabotage and local interference designed to slow-walk enforcement.

With over 18 million illegal migrants estimated to be residing in the U.S., the Trump administration faces a logistical and legal nightmare. ICE currently employs just 21,000 agents and staff—a tiny force compared to the scale of the challenge ahead. Deporting even a fraction of that population would require swift coordination across federal, state, and local levels of government.

But those levels are anything but aligned.

Across America, left-wing officials are digging in. In sanctuary cities like Chicago, New York, and San Francisco, local governments are outright refusing to cooperate with federal enforcement. Police departments have been instructed not to honor ICE detainers. Courtrooms are sealed from immigration officials. Some mayors are even releasing illegal immigrants before ICE can arrive—including those charged with serious crimes.

And the justifications for this resistance? Often framed as compassion—but more often steeped in lawfare tactics that abuse the system to delay and obstruct.

Case in point: deportation orders often get tied up in layers of appeals and administrative proceedings. Once an illegal alien secures a court hearing (sometimes years into the future), the process is stalled. This creates a catch-22 where enforcement agencies have no legal room to act, even when the case is clear-cut.

It gets worse. Activist attorneys and NGOs flood the courts with emergency injunctions, shielding their clients behind claims of “credible fear,” even when those claims don’t hold up under scrutiny. Meanwhile, agencies like ICE are required to navigate the National Environmental Policy Act, union rules, data privacy statutes, and state civil rights codes before any action is taken.

This isn’t enforcement. It’s entrapment by regulation.

Trump’s promise to remove millions of illegal aliens can only be realized if he takes a wrecking ball to this legal scaffolding. That means more than signing executive orders. It means rolling back federal consent decrees, issuing emergency rule changes, and challenging the jurisdictional overreach of local governments head-on.

Former ICE Director Tom Homan put it bluntly: “Until these sanctuary jurisdictions are held accountable for harboring criminal aliens, the system is broken.” He’s right—and until that system is rebuilt, deportation pledges remain just that: pledges.

Trump’s first term proved that policy changes alone don’t stop illegal immigration. What made the difference was pressure—pressure that forced cooperation or exposed obstruction. His allies in Congress are already laying the groundwork for a 2025 crackdown, but without aggressive follow-through, any plan will get swallowed by the bureaucratic swamp.

If the Trump administration wants to fulfill its promise to secure the nation’s sovereignty, it must do more than build the wall—it must tear down the walls of red tape, court injunctions, and local rebellion.

Because without it, the 18 million stay.