Donald Trump has made hard-line policies and rhetoric on immigration the centerpiece of his presidency. But his housecleaning at the Department of Homeland Security is an unambiguous sign that his agenda will become even more brutal in the coming weeks. In recent days, the president, reportedly with the help of Stephen Miller, has ousted Immigration and Customs Enforcement acting director Ronald Vitiello, D.H.S. Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen, and Secret Service Director Randolph Alles, and is reportedly seeking to force out Claire Grady—the D.H.S. official standing in the way of Trump appointing Kevin McAleenan to replace Nielsen—and Lee Francis Cissna, the current head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. The shake-up, Trump and others in his administration have said, is part of a broader effort to go in a “tougher direction” at the border, a plan that includes potentially illegal actions, such as effectively eliminating asylum, as well as the return of the president’s cruelest immigration policy: family separation at the border.

According to Axios, the administration’s new, draconian agenda will include an effort to ramp up deportations, “make [it] more difficult for low-skilled immigrants” to get into the country, “apply greater rigor and scrutiny” to asylum claims, and allow the government to detain migrant children for more than 20 days. Trump has also reportedly been pushing for months to re-start his administration’s brutal family-separation policy, which split thousands of children from their parents.

That policy marked perhaps the darkest episode for Trump’s administration, which said last week that it could take as long as two years to reunite some children with their families. But Trump, angry at an influx of border crossings, has sought to reinstate the “zero tolerance” policy. Multiple outlets report that he is considering a modified version, backed by Miller, which would give parents a “binary choice” between being separated from their children or waiving their child’s humanitarian protections so the family can be detained together, but indefinitely.

That plan, like other elements of Trump’s aggressive new anti-immigration agenda, is exceedingly controversial—some Republicans are bristling at the approach—and certain to face legal challenges. But Trump, who has defaulted to anti-immigrant fearmongering at challenging points of his presidency, appears to have a more cynical political strategy in mind. “It appears that at times it’s less important in this administration, whether they lose or win in court, than to just say they’ve been able to have done it and have it as a talking point,” Jonathan Meyer, a former deputy general counsel at D.H.S., told The New York Times on Monday. “And have an opportunity to criticize the courts if they lose.”

Whatever Trump’s intent, the purge of D.H.S. and the specter of a renewed immigration crackdown is likely to have devastating impacts on migrants. It also points to an executive increasingly untethered from normal decision-making processes. One source of tension between Trump and Nielsen was his demand that she carry out policies that would reportedly “clash” with federal court orders and immigration laws. With Nielsen gone, it’s an open question whether the next head of D.H.S. will share her concerns. Already, Trump has been encouraged by a coterie of extremist advisers including Miller, Kris Kobach, and Steve Bannon, who are pushing the White House toward another confrontation with the courts. (Last week, during a trip to California, Trump reportedly instructed border agents to defy judicial orders and prohibit migrants from crossing into the U.S.)

As officials wait to see what the president has in store, they’re pre-emptively sounding the alarm. “As Homeland Security Secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen oversaw the implementation of [Trump’s] increasingly toxic anti-immigrant policies,” Nancy Pelosi said in a statement Sunday, as the D.H.S. purge kicked into high gear. “That she is reportedly resigning because she is not extreme enough for the White House’s liking is deeply alarming.”

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