President Donald Trump successfully ran for re-election, at least in part, on an oft-repeated campaign promise to conduct mass deportations of illegal aliens, and some conservative leaders are attempting to hold the president to his word.

Mike Howell, of the Heritage Foundation, accused the Trump administration of failing to make good on the mass deportation vow, and called out the Department of Homeland Security for its mixed messaging to the public on the issue, according to the Washington Examiner.

The main impediment to the president following through on what he said he'd do, in Howell's view, is the immense pressure and obstruction against mass deportations from some federal courts, Democrats, the media, profit-seeking interest groups, and even some establishment Republicans, among others.

Trump has not followed through on mass deportations promises

In a recent interview with the Examiner, Howell, a visiting fellow at the Heritage Foundation's Border Security and Immigration Center, suggested that fear of possible blowback has prevented the Trump administration from conducting necessary workplace raids to apprehend and deport large numbers of illegal migrant workers.

"There are a lot of people in and around the administration who are allergic to the concept of worksite enforcement because big companies, agriculture, hotels, and restaurants don’t want to have their illegal workforce raided," Howell claimed. "And if you don’t enforce worksite enforcement at scale and regularly, you’re never going to get mass deportations."

"Since the election, there’s been a substantial amount of bargaining as to what the president's promise is. The promise was the largest deportation operation in history," he continued. "Over time, people on the Left, mainstream media, the left-wing of the Republican Congress, and [for-profit industries] have sought to redefine the president's promise to be the selective deportation of illegal [immigrants]."

More needs to be done to "do what they promised"

In the interview with the Examiner, Howell took issue with the mixed messaging out of the administration on the subject of mass deportations, and lamented, "It’s politics, right? You want to say you’re getting it done. You don’t want to be letting the president down. I see a dual communication strategy: you have the awesome posting from the DHS at times, but then that’s attached to the 'worst of the worst' policy."

He noted that there is typically ample "deportation data" about who has been removed from the country, but said that "in its place, we're being spun statistics of service-based extrapolations, of economic data, among other things," and further observed, "Data that’s there that usually goes out, that now does not go out, it breeds distrust."

Howell acknowledged the possibility that DHS was "underreporting" its deportation numbers, but nonetheless argued that more needed to be done, including Congress appropriating more funds to make "major investments" in the effort, while simultaneously mocking the highly publicized opening of relatively small facilities with catchy names, such as Florida's Alligator Alcatraz, Indiana's Speedway Slammer, and Nebraska's Cornhusker Clink, among others.

He insisted that the administration "should do what they promised. Deport millions of illegal aliens. They should get the big beautiful money out there. In a strategic way. Not just unveiling expensive state beds for facilities with low amounts of beds and cool names."

People want to see more "commas" in the deportation numbers

"I think a massive issue for the GOP right now is the satisfaction of the base," Howell told the Examiner. "There are a lot of people who clearly voted for his campaign mandates. People want to see that 10 years into this whole project of MAGA, that if you push the vote button and it works, what you push the button for happens."

"It's more likely that left-wing Republicans say you secured the border, you got rid of the criminal illegals, now let's do a comprehensive immigration deal and give amnesty," he continued. "I think that's the idea with legs coming from these Republicans that sought to redefine mass deportations."

In the end, Howell added, "The American people need commas in the deportation numbers -- a steady stream of commas to get to mass deportation levels. We need to increase many times over what is happening now."

For what it is worth, Howell and others like him may soon be getting what they've wished for, as CBS News reported that, in a clear departure from the administration's "worst of the worst" messaging, nearly half of all illegal aliens taken into custody are "non-criminal" detainees who, aside from violating the nation's immigration laws, have no other criminal convictions or charges.