Former United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has criticized President Donald Trump’s immigration policies during his second term, saying they break from past U.S. practices and democratic norms.
She blasted the president during a panel at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, February 14, while commenting on immigration, U.S.-Russia relations, and the war in Ukraine.
Clinton told diplomats and policymakers that Trump’s record on deportations and family separation has been misrepresented.
The former Secretary of State compared his actions to those of earlier administrations, particularly her husband Bill Clinton and Barrack Obama.
“More people were deported under my husband and Barack Obama without killing American citizens and without putting children into detention camps than were in the first Trump term or this first year of Trump’s second term.”
Hillary Clinton slams Trump on immigration, Russia-Ukraine war
She further argued that it is important to examine factual records rather than ideological impulses or political rhetoric.
Clinton said Trump’s policies reflect a desire to return to a past that favored only certain groups, rather than the country’s diverse population.
“Very often the ideological impulse to try to protect the status quo or return making America great again in some nostalgic past that existed for white men and capitalist enterprise was not exactly open and welcoming to people who look like me and a lot of other people who are part of our national fabric,” the former Secretary of State said.
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Clinton at the same time said the war in Ukraine is a key test of Western unity and values. She criticized Trump’s approach, saying his administration tried to pressure Kyiv into accepting a surrender deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The former presidential candidate also commented on the Western strategy regarding Ukraine’s counteroffensive, arguing that the U.S. should provide Kyiv with tomahawks.
She further emphasized the need to keep pressuring Russian forces to gain leverage in negotiations.
“The plan is give the Ukrainians tomahawks. Give them more missiles for their Patriot Defense systems. Allow them to inflict more damage beyond the border into Russia. That’s when they began to actually think about coming to the negotiating table when Ukraine was able to reach targets uh that were inside Russia. Inflict enough pain.”
“I mean, it apparently, it’s not enough pain to have hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers killed and injured. That is not enough pain for Putin but inflict pain on the refineries. Inflict pain on the, you know, the missile sites. Inflict pain that will actually create the conditions for a better negotiation.”
DHS highlights immigration achievements
Clinton’s criticism on U.S. immigration policies come as the Trump administration continues to highlight major enforcement milestones by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and related agencies.
DHS data released on January 20, 2026, shows that nearly three million illegal immigrants left the U.S. during Trump’s first year, including over 675,000 formal deportations and about 2.2 million self-deportations.
Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem said there have been big drops in border incidents and drug trafficking.
“In the last year, fentanyl trafficking at the southern border has also been cut by more than half compared to the same period in 2024,” she said.
“The U.S. Coast Guard alone seized enough cocaine to kill more than 177 million Americans.”
The administration also reported record-low numbers of U.S. Border Patrol encounters, saying the daily average at the southwest border has dropped to 251, down from 5,110 under the previous administration.
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USCIS has also put stricter enforcement measures in place and improved how it operates. In its first year, DHS said the agency carried out its largest enforcement operation so far, called Operation Twin Shield, which focused on finding fraud and checking eligibility.
“Under an updated policy confirming USCIS’ role as an immigration enforcement agency, agency officers are once again empowered to enforce immigration law by issuing Notices to Appear. So far, they have done so in historic numbers. Since January 20, USCIS officers have issued approximately 196,600 Notices to Appear to place aliens in removal proceedings.”
Funding and operations
Despite these enforcement steps, DHS has faced a partial shutdown because of ongoing talks between the White House and Congressional Democrats about immigration reforms after last month’s fatal federal shootings in Minnesota.
Agencies like ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are expected to keep operating, using existing funding from the Trump administration’s “big, beautiful bill.”
Border czar Tom Homan earlier this week confirmed the drawdown of Operation Metro Surge in Minneapolis, noting that local coordination and operational successes justified the end of the operation.
“I have proposed and President Trump has concurred that this surge operation conclude,” he said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer both recognized the ongoing negotiations.
Democrats stressed the need for “serious guardrails that protect Americans, that rein in ICE, and stop the violence.”
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