"They're ready to just perform their mission, which is to go and find and detain and then deport the approximately one million people who have final removal orders," Acting USCIS Director Ken Cuccinelli said on " Face the Nation " on Sunday, referring to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) branch charged with removal operations.

Cuccinelli, an immigration hardliner who took the helm of the agency last month, said it is within ICE's discretion to determine who among those with final orders of deportation will be targeted in operations, suggesting the full pool of approximately one million immigrants might not face deportation after all.

"They've been all the way through the due process and have final removal orders. Who among those will be targeted for this particular effort ... is really just information kept within ICE at this point," he added. "The pool of those with final removal orders is enormous."

(Full transcript here.)

Full nine-minute segment:

The number one million has tremendous resonance: it is what first comes to mind as a really big number. It signals "mass deportations" — a bugaboo for Democrats and advocates of illegal immigration.

Having Cuccinelli lay out this number serves two functions.

1. It is a signal to Trump's base that he will deliver on their concerns about illegal immigration. Many are disappointed that the border wall has not been completed or even adequately funded. Trump needs them to turn out in 2020. He cannot afford to discourage them.

2. It is also bait to lure the Democrats into hysteria over "dividing families" and all the other heartstring-tugging memes they can devise. Trump wants this reaction because the Democrats, by advocating for people who have received due process and have flouted court orders, are defending outright lawlessness. Let them go out on that limb, and Trump will gladly saw it off during a presidential debate.

Note that Cuccinelli is a former NeverTrump who has agreed to serve in the Trump administration. If he handles this well, there may be greater things ahead for him, as he is a very smart and capable guy. I don't know him well, but I have spoken to him and regard him as rock-solid, despite his early reservations about and serious opposition to Trump's nomination.

Speaking with the White House in the background makes it unmistakable that he is on board and speaking for the president.

Photo credit: YouTube screen grab.