Trump vows sweeping crackdown on immigration after "No Kings' protests

US President Donald Trump has vowed a sweeping crackdown on immigration in several major Democratic-led US cities in apparent retaliation for the "No Kings' protests against his administration that took place on Saturday and drew millions of people, theguardian.com reports.

In a new report published on Monday, the news website Axios claims that the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) has overrun its budget by $1 billion and will run out of money in the next 1-3 months. The source cited notes that Trump's "big, beautiful bill” has directed tens of billions of dollars to ICE over the next five years, and suggests that the White House leader will direct other government funds to the agency if the bill is not passed by Congress.

Trump indicated an expansion of the crackdown on immigration in a post on his social media account Truth on Sunday night, claiming without evidence that cities have become "the nucleus of Democratic power” by using "illegal aliens to expand the voter base.”

Foreign citizens are not allowed to vote in US elections, and there is no widespread evidence that they ever have, The Guardian notes.

"ICE officers are hereby directed, by notice of this TRUTH, to do everything in their power to accomplish the very important goal of implementing the largest mass deportation program in history,” Trump wrote, adding, "We must expand our efforts to detain and deport from America's largest cities, such as Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York, where millions upon millions of illegal aliens reside.” California City has become a flashpoint for protests against ICE raids, with Trump sending in National Guard troops and U.S. Marines in an unprecedented show of force. On Saturday, California City hosted one of the largest "No Kings” demonstrations in the country, with an estimated 200,000 people in attendance, according to organizers.

• Trump's immigration stances are fluctuating

Trump's stance on immigration has fluctuated wildly in recent days, The Guardian reports. Last week, the US administration ordered ICE to halt workplace immigration enforcement actions unless they are related to criminal investigations, in the face of growing public backlash over the raids, which it sees as damaging industries with significant immigrant labor, such as agriculture and tourism.

"Big farmers and people in the hospitality and leisure industries have said that our very aggressive immigration policy is taking away very good, long-serving workers, and these jobs are almost impossible to replace,” Trump wrote on Truth Social on Thursday, promising that "change is coming.”

In a post on Sunday, however, he appeared to change his stance again. His choice to identify only Democratic-led cities with large immigrant populations and to omit others controlled by or with Republican leanings was notable.

The use of the word "remigration” to describe his administration's deportation agenda is also considered deliberate, according to the source.

"Our Federal Government will continue to focus on REMIGRATING aliens to the places they came from and preventing the admission of ANY that undermines the domestic peace of the United States,” Trump wrote.

Trump's statement followed Saturday's military parade in Washington, D.C., which was ostensibly held to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the U.S. military - but which critics said was hijacked by the president to celebrate the 79th anniversary of the U.S. military as a personal celebration.

One spectator summed up the general feeling of the parade: "just... a little embarrassing.”

The president was already under pressure for politicizing the military and his role as commander-in-chief after his appearance last Tuesday at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, at an event where a pop-up store sold Trump merchandise to active-duty soldiers.

According to The Guardian, the US leader broke with decades of nonpartisan traditions at military events by attacking Democratic political opponents in California, including Governor Gavin Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

"They are incompetent and paid troublemakers, agitators and insurgents,” Trump said, adding: "They are engaged in this deliberate attempt to overturn federal law and help the city be taken over by criminal invaders.”

Trump's Sunday order for ICE and its partners, including the Department of Homeland Security, to ramp up operations comes as his immigration adviser, Deputy White House Chief of Staff Stephen Miller, has called for a minimum of 3,000 arrests per day.

Analyst Chuck Todd, a former host of NBC's Meet the Press, said Trump "openly admits that he is politicizing law enforcement.” In a post on the X platform, Todd wrote: "This will not help ICE's image because Trump is asking it to perform a political task. He is seeking to protect Republican states from law enforcement and is clearly hoping to provoke an angry response.”