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Mass Deportation Coalition and Phase 2: Jim Pfaff with Mike Howell at the RNC Midterm Convention | Sep 10, 2026

Published: September 10, 2026
Network: TCC Live — RNC Midterm Convention coverage, Dallas
Analysis: Conservative Caucus President Jim Pfaff

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On September 10, 2026, between sessions at the RNC Midterm Convention in Dallas — JD Vance on the way to the hall, President Trump due to speak, an honoring of Charlie Kirk on the program — Jim Pfaff used the gap to bring Mike Howell into The Conservative Caucus media suite. Howell runs the Oversight Project and heads the Mass Deportation Coalition, which The Conservative Caucus has joined. Pfaff set the terms of the conversation in his first thirty seconds: the Trump administration has made real progress on deportation, and it is not enough. “We want them all to go,” he said. What followed was a working session on what is actually known about the deportation numbers, the fact that ICE stopped publishing them, where enforcement has to happen to move them, and why the two men believe pushing the President on this is the way to back him rather than undercut him.

Topics Covered

• Why the Mass Deportation Coalition Exists
• Home Costs, Stolen Jobs, and the Elite Consensus After Minneapolis
• Socialism Is the Convention Theme. Howell Names Its Power Source
• The Numbers ICE Stopped Releasing
• Worksite Enforcement, Eisenhower, and the Business Lobby
• Phase 2: They All Go Home
• Key Takeaways

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Why the Mass Deportation Coalition Exists

Pfaff opened by crediting the administration and then refusing to stop there. The progress on deportation is real, he said, and the American people want the job finished.

“We’re happy for a lot of the progress that Donald Trump’s made on deportation. But quite frankly, we want them all to go. Just send them all back. I think the American people really want that.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

Howell traced the issue back to its origin in the modern Republican Party. When Trump came down the golden escalator in 2015 it was around border security, and it turned into mass deportation, because the consequences of illegal immigration are everywhere — in policy, in education, in crime, in economics, in culture. Everything illegal immigration has touched, he said, it has made worse. That was the promise that reshaped the GOP, he said — the party was going to be redefined around this thing.

“Where the base needs to push the most, I think, is let’s get this deportation stuff done. Because if we don’t, President AOC opens that up again. We’re never catching up.”
— Mike Howell, President, Oversight Project

That is the argument for a coalition rather than a single organization. Howell lived through Trump One, when the President promised to build the wall and not a lot of wall got built. His read on why is specific: it was not that Trump did not want to do it, it was the headwinds from the lobbies and from establishment Republicans. The same thing is happening on deportation now, and the Mass Deportation Coalition is built so that it does not happen a second time.

Home Costs, Stolen Jobs, and the Elite Consensus After Minneapolis

Pfaff brought the one number the two of them keep returning to: the massive increase in the cost of homes that has followed the illegal importation of people into the country. It is the same argument TCC has been making this fall, in our coverage of illegal immigration and housing costs. He paired it with the claim he says was never true.

“You remember how they used to say, oh, Americans won’t do those jobs? That was always bullcrap. They came in and stole our jobs. And those effects are very real. They’re life-changing, actually, for a lot of American citizens who suffer under these things.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

Howell agreed and named the beneficiary. The illegal labor lobby is in full swing and ascendant right now, and it wants to protect that illegal workforce because those are the people who reap the benefit of illegal immigration. The same interests fund the political system on both the right and the left, which is why the logjam is so hard to break. Inside a big-tent Republican Party that is a generational coalition, there are people who want amnesty and people who are funding amnesty through the special interest lobby — and many more voters who want deportations. That tension has a visible effect on the program in Dallas.

“It’s why we’re not hearing enough about mass deportation at this convention, because the party’s so at war with itself a little bit.”
— Mike Howell, President, Oversight Project

Pfaff had called it a canard that enforcement in Minneapolis angered the American people; the only people it angered, he said, were the radical leftists who want the people who ought to be deported to stay here. Howell agreed — Minneapolis, he said, did not change public opinion at all. The coalition ran a poll and it went up, including in one of the key demographics, Hispanics. The only opinions that changed, or as he put it self-validated, were those of the elite consensus — the donor class that looked at Minneapolis and said the country could not do that. The people never wavered.

Both men had watched that gap form from inside. Pfaff traced it to the groupthink that develops among elites of any sort, whether elected politicians or the lobbying groups on K Street, where everyone convinces themselves they understand exactly what is going on when they never know at all — and then acts on their personal interests anyway. His example was most favored nation status for China, sold as freedom while it moved American work overseas. Howell put the mechanism in harder terms: get the country addicted to cheap goods from China and the withdrawal is too much; get it addicted to cheap labor and the withdrawal is too much. The country needs to detox, he said, and kick away the drug dealers in Washington.

Socialism Is the Convention Theme. Howell Names Its Power Source

The stated theme of the 2026 RNC Midterm Convention is the rise of socialism and the threat it poses — the frame running through TCC’s whole week of coverage of the RNC Midterm Convention in Dallas. Howell does not dispute the theme. He argues it stops one step short of the cause.

“The reason why socialism has a potential in the United States of America is because of mass immigration, illegal and legal. It’s how you get Mamdani, El-Sayed. And so I want to hear not just socialism bad, but we’re going to defeat its power source.”
— Mike Howell, President, Oversight Project

The power source, in his account, is the dramatic change in the demographics of the country along with the cultural decay that came with it. Defeat that and the socialist candidates lose their base of support. Pfaff went further on the politics of it: the anti-socialism message is not what wins this election. It has to be made and you want to say it, he said, but there is, he thinks, an ick factor to it for the American people, the real voters and real citizens. More importantly, even though a lot of what has caused the country’s problems is Democrat policy, what it really comes down to is the mass migration that has come in here.

The Numbers ICE Stopped Releasing

Pfaff asked Howell to put meat on the bones: what are the actual numbers, what has Trump actually done, and where can the numbers shift. Howell’s answer started with an absence.

“Everyone’s fighting about the numbers because we haven’t received the actual deportation data. For the first time, I think, in 20 years since I’ve been working this issue, ICE stopped releasing deportation data under the Trump administration.”
— Mike Howell, President, Oversight Project

He does not know why the decision was made, only that the complete data set is not going out. Into that vacuum came claims circulated by influencers that the number is around 3 million deportations. Howell says that is not true at all, and he measures it: 3 million is the population of New Mexico, and if that many people were up and leaving there would be data to back it up. His estimate of real deportations is closer to a few hundred thousand.

The gap is partly a definition problem, and Howell is precise about the definition that counts. A deportation is an interior enforcement action against someone in the country illegally who has roots here, who gets an order from an immigration judge to be removed, and who is then taken by ICE and removed. What makes it stick is the statutory bar to reentry — five or ten years, which he said means a future president potentially cannot let that person back in. The things being advertised as deportations on the internet are not that, which is why skepticism is growing in a base that just wants to know whether this is happening or not.

Self-deportation runs on even thinner evidence. The estimate the White House uses comes from a voluntary Census Bureau survey in which people report whether they are in the country legally and their labor force participation — and Howell’s objection is the obvious one: why would an illegal alien fill out a government survey? On that extrapolation people are saying 3 million have self-deported. What is actually documented is that about 100,000 took the cash when it was offered and left. DHS knows the real number, he said, and there is no reason to rely on an extrapolation when the data exists. The coalition is suing DHS to get it out.

Worksite Enforcement, Eisenhower, and the Business Lobby

Howell’s answer to the question of how the numbers go up is not complicated, and he says so. Illegal aliens come here to work, and by and large they are in factories, farms, restaurants and hospitality, and driving for DoorDash. Everyone in the country knows this.

“So go to the place of high concentration of illegals, the worksites, and do enforcement there. That’s what President Eisenhower did. That’s why he’s the record holder on deportation.”
— Mike Howell, President, Oversight Project

Worksite enforcement is the backbone of any mass deportation operation, and it is the piece the business lobby will fight hardest. Pfaff added that it is not just the big business lobby — the National Federation of Independent Business is in it too. Everyone, Howell agreed. That is the whole game, and it is what the Mass Deportation Coalition is pushing for: the enforcement action that would move the number, against the interests most able to stop it.

Phase 2: They All Go Home

Pfaff made TCC’s position explicit. The Conservative Caucus is 100% on board with the coalition because this is a key issue — and because, he said, this is how you support Donald Trump, not how you harm him. The calling-out is real, but it is not aimed at the endgame; it is aimed at giving the President the support he needs. That is why it was built as a coalition and not as one group’s project.

“We support the president. We want this to be a strong coalition because it will help him get done what we know in his heart of hearts he wants to get done.”
— Jim Pfaff, President, The Conservative Caucus

Howell described the coalition as the thing that was missing the first time around — a group standing behind the President when the people who want him to stop walk into the room.

“What was missing in Trump One was a group like the Mass Deportation Coalition to say, Mr. President, we got your back. You were right on the campaign trail. You were right in the 2024 convention.”
— Mike Howell, President, Oversight Project

With that behind him, Howell said, the President can look at the people asking him to stop and answer that these are his real supporters, not the transactional funders — these are his people, and his legacy is delivering what he promised them. The coalition’s public face is built for that. Its site is massdeportation.com, where supporters sign up for regular updates on progress, news and analysis, because there is so much misinformation on social media and the coalition wants people who know what they are talking about giving out accurate numbers and telling supporters where and how to push. On X the handle is @Phase2Deport, and the name carries the demand.

“Phase 1 was just focused on worst of the worst, the criminals. Well, it’s time for Phase 2. Phase 2 is they all go home.”
— Mike Howell, President, Oversight Project

The coalition has been testing that proposition directly, walking the convention floor in Dallas and asking people whether they still stand with President Trump’s promise to conduct the mass deportation effort, the largest in American history. They have all said yes, Howell said. Nobody has said no. Howell’s framing of the fight follows from that count: this is the people versus the lobbyists and the special interests, in what he calls a voter-powered party, a party of the people.

Pfaff closed by heading off the charge he expects. This is not an attempt to knock the President down, and it is not a Tucker Carlson move — the Caucus supports the President, and a strong coalition helps him finish what he set out to do. He drew the line between what is done and what is not: Donald Trump has done a fantastic job shutting the border down this time around, and that is not the problem. The problem is getting the illegals out, because as long as they are here the other side will keep working to get them to vote and to get them driver’s licenses. Howell’s last word was the same point from the other chair: the President needs the people who have always had his back to have his back on this issue. It is a big tent party with people in it who like amnesty, and then there is the rest of the party that wants to get the job done.

Key Takeaways

1. The deportation data is not public – ICE stopped releasing deportation data under the Trump administration — the first time, Howell says, in the 20 years he has worked the issue. The Mass Deportation Coalition is suing DHS to get the actual numbers out.
2. The 3 million claim does not hold up – Influencer claims of roughly 3 million deportations describe the population of New Mexico. Howell puts real interior removals in the range of a few hundred thousand, and documented cash-assisted departures at about 100,000.
3. A deportation has a legal definition – An interior enforcement action, an order from an immigration judge, removal by ICE, and a statutory bar to reentry of five or ten years. Things advertised online as deportations mostly are not.
4. Worksite enforcement is the lever – Factories, farms, restaurants, hospitality and delivery work are where the concentration is. It is how Eisenhower became the record holder, and it is what the business lobby, including NFIB, will fight.
5. Immigration is socialism’s power source – The convention theme is the rise of socialism; Howell’s argument is that mass immigration, legal and illegal, is how candidates like Mamdani and Abdul El-Sayed become possible, and Pfaff says the anti-socialism message is not what is going to win this election.
6. Phase 2 means all of them – Phase 1 was the worst of the worst. The Mass Deportation Coalition, at massdeportation.com and @Phase2Deport on X, exists to tell the President his base has his back on finishing the job.

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About The Conservative Caucus:
The Conservative Caucus is a grassroots public policy action organization, formed in 1974. Headed by President Jim Pfaff, the Caucus is committed to advancing free enterprise, limited government, and traditional values.

Originally broadcast Sep 10, 2026 live from The Conservative Caucus media suite at the 2026 RNC Midterm Convention, Dallas.