During the early days of President Trump’s second term, he suggested there could be exceptions to his crackdown on immigration, specifically for those who had been brought to the United States as children and those who were stuck in limbo after the chaotic U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan under President Joseph R. Biden Jr.
His intentions spoke to a common bipartisan belief that those groups should be treated with some degree of leniency. But the past couple of weeks have shown just how far even Mr. Trump has moved to block immigration and to demonize immigrants in his second term, erasing the lines around people who traditionally have been seen as special cases.
First, a 19-year-old college student who tried to fly home to surprise her family on Thanksgiving was shackled by immigration agents and deported, despite a court order saying she should not be removed from the United States.
And on Friday, the Trump administration announced it would stop issuing visas to people from Afghanistan and review all Afghans allowed into the United States during the Biden administration. The decision came after a gunman, identified by the authorities as an Afghan national, shot two members of the National Guard last week in Washington, D.C.
The suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, 29, entered the United States through a temporary program set up to manage the immigration of Afghan nationals fleeing Taliban rule, which requires significant vetting.
For Mr. Trump, the actions show the lengths he is willing to go to make good on his anti-immigration agenda, after voters across party lines shifted to the right on immigration in recent years. And they come as hard-liners like Mr. Trump’s deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, gain power and influence in his administration.
But critics say the sweeping nature of his actions, including the deportation of a college freshman who had lived in the United States for 12 years, call into question the claim that Mr. Trump’s deportation campaign is meant to target the “worst of the worst.”
“What it means is in order to make the numbers Stephen Miller wants to make, there are no priorities. Anyone you can roll up to, you take,” said David Lapan, a former spokesman for the Homeland Security Department in Mr. Trump’s first term who is now critical of Mr. Trump’s policies. He added that Mr. Trump’s actions to turn away Afghans broke from a bipartisan approach to helping Afghans who assisted the U.S. military.
“The only thing that’s consistent is the inconsistency between what he’s saying, what he has said in the past and what he’s doing now,” he added.
Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, defended the Trump administration’s immigration actions on Monday, arguing that Mr. Trump has a “sacred obligation to reverse the calamity of mass unchecked migration into” the United States.
“The hard truth is that even when it comes to our legal immigration system, past presidents have failed to ensure that all prospective citizens love America will add value and contribute to our communities and will assimilate into our culture,” Ms. Leavitt said.
Immediately upon taking office this year, Mr. Trump clamped down on immigration and ordered a mass deportation campaign. After suspending refugee admissions — with the exception of white South Africans — Trump officials said they would prioritize “assimilation” in the United States going forward. Refugees, as well as Afghans issued visas after helping the U.S. military, have typically undergone extensive vetting and have historically been supported by both Democrats and Republicans.
Mr. Trump has on some occasions tried to limit the scope of his deportation campaign, in some cases citing business interests.
After leaders in the agriculture industry complained to the White House that they could not find enough workers, Mr. Trump directed his administration to ease enforcement on farms and the hospitality industry. And after a deportation raid at a Hyundai manufacturing facility in Georgia, Mr. Trump has defended bringing foreign workers to the United States to work certain jobs, infuriating some in his base.
But Mr. Trump’s immigration actions have grown more sprawling as his top advisers, including Mr. Miller, have ramped up pressure. After Mr. Miller demanded that Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials escalate arrests in May, most arrests have involved people without criminal convictions.
The college student, Any Lucía López Belloza, appeared to just be the latest target. Ms. López was brought by her parents from Honduras to the United States when she was 7 nearly 12 years ago and had no criminal record, according to her lawyer, Todd Pomerleau. The Homeland Security Department did not respond to questions about whether she had a criminal record or why she was targeted for deportation.
The department has said that an immigration judge had ordered Ms. López to be deported in 2015. Mr. Pomerleau, however, said she was removed despite a court order signed on Nov. 21 that said she should not be deported while her immigration case is pending.
Ms. López, a student at Babson College, was not a beneficiary of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, program that was designed to assist immigrants brought to the country as young children. Her family arrived after the program’s cutoff date, Mr. Pomerleau said.
While Mr. Trump took actions to slash that program in his first term, he has also repeatedly said he would look to ways to spare those young immigrants from deportation.
But former Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said Ms. López would typically also be treated with discretion by immigration agents.
“This is a young woman who came as a child and is starting a career in a college — an examination of the facts would appear to present a clear case for discretion or at least forbearance to allow her to address her case or prepare for departure,” said Claire Trickler-McNulty, a former ICE official who served in Democratic and Republican administrations. “The move to immediate deportation shows that the elements of discretion in how this was conducted appear to be gone.”
Francis López, 38, the father of Ms. López, said other families should prepare to be targeted by immigration agents.
“It’s a reality we are facing right now,” he said. “We have to be prepared, mentally and psychologically. We have to talk to lawyers, and to our children.”
Asked about the case, Abigail Jackson, a White House spokeswoman, said “everything President Trump does is to protect and defend the interests of the American people.”
Annie Correal contributed reporting from Mexico City.
Zolan Kanno-Youngs is a White House correspondent for The Times, covering President Trump and his administration.
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