IMMIGRATION FILES: President Donald Trump’s whole-of-government immigration crackdown and mass deportations have been one of the administration’s top priorities all year — leading to some millions of immigrants removed, self-deported or stripped of their legal status and border crossings plummeting to half-a-century lows. And the campaign is only poised to accelerate in the new year. The perpetual border: Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks told the Washington Examiner’s Anna Giaritelli that his agency will keep roaming all over the country, far from its typical border-focused mission, to help arrest unauthorized immigrants in support of ICE. “Every time we kick off a new city and operation at-large, we watch our self-deports under CBP Home [app] go up,” he said. The warehouse plan: WaPo’s Douglas MacMillan and Jonathan O'Connell revealed this morning the scope of ICE’s plans to use renovated warehouses for immigrant detention. A draft proposal envisions seven large warehouses and 16 smaller ones collectively housing more than 80,000 people at any given time. The big ones, each containing 5,000 to 10,000 people, would be located across Arizona, Georgia, Louisiana, Missouri, Texas and Virginia — with the largest in Stafford, according to the solicitation. The warehouse plan would allow ICE to expand its detention capacity and make the system more efficient, but it also faces logistical and political hurdles. The surge: ICE’s latest campaign has centered on Columbus, Ohio, in the last week, leading to arrests, protests and political fights, NYT’s Billy Witz and Kevin Williams report. Some immigrants are staying home out of fear, and others who have become citizens are carrying their passports. The city’s large Somali population — an ethnic group that has recently borne the brunt of xenophobic comments by Trump — is in the spotlight, as are immigrants from Latin America and elsewhere. And “Operation Buckeye” has provoked backlash from local Democratic leaders, including Mayor Andrew Ginther, who in turn has earned the ire of Stephen Miller and Elon Musk. One big question for 2026: Having been rebuffed this week by the Supreme Court on deploying the National Guard domestically, will Trump turn to the Insurrection Act? Trump has often dangled the prospect of invoking the 19th-century law to send in the troops — in part as protection for ICE — in American cities. Justice Brett Kavanaugh noted this possible ramification in his concurrence this week, and experts tell CNN’s John Fritze that despite the political risks, the Insurrection Act debate could reemerge as Trump faces fewer legal pathways to deploy the military at home. Good Wednesday afternoon, and happy Christmas Eve to those who celebrate. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. This is our last afternoon edition before the holidays, but we’ll be back in the new year, and Playbook will still be in your inbox every morning. Drop me a line at eokun@politico.com.
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