Steve Bannon and his guests are not happy the Republican midterm convention avoided mentioning mass deportations

Written by Sophie Lawton

Published

On the first day of the inaugural GOP midterm convention, War Room host Steve Bannon expressed mock confusion that Department of Homeland Security officials and anti-immigration activists were not invited to speak. Mike Howell, president of the Oversight Project and leader of the Mass Deportation Coalition, called the event “a mass deportation blackout” and claimed “the consultants have decided it's not a winning issue for them.” 

Howell reiterated that mass deportations are a “bread and butter” issue for MAGA and argued, “It's time to tell the big donors, the ag [agriculture] lobby, the special interests who are saying don't deport our illegal workers to kick rocks because this is a voter-powered party that's going to deliver for the people, deliver for the mandate.”

GOP strategist Caroline Wren added that “President Trump ran on immigration … and he won overwhelmingly,” calling his border policies “the biggest accomplishment we have.”

From the September 9, 2026, edition of Real America's Voice's War Room

This week, Bannon hosted failed Florida GOP gubernatorial candidate James Fishback, who went on an anti-immigration rant and claimed Texas Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate James Talarico is ushering in the “great replacement” in Texas. Fishback also argued that mass deportations are young men's top political priority.

Bannon bemoaned that the midterm convention “banned” signs calling for mass deportations and agreed with Fishback when he said, “That's an indictment upon both the mass deportations betrayal but also on the free speech betrayal as well."

Despite the vocal disappointment over mass deportations from Bannon and others, it is worth noting that Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests hit a record high in July following a hiring surge of immigration enforcement officers, and, according to The New York Times, 55% of voters disapprove of “the way Donald Trump has handled" immigration.

From the September 15, 2026, edition of Real America's Voice's War Room

JAMES FISHBACK (GUEST): Any job, any college slot is open to any of the 8 billion people on planet Earth. Instead, my vision that I advocate for in my essay on X is a nationalist meritocracy that says that American jobs and American opportunities should be exclusively open to American citizens. Let Americans rigorously compete in a colorblind, race blind, gender blind meritocracy amongst themselves.

...

Corporate greed has loved cheap labor since the time of South plantation owners in the 1830s. It's no different today. I mean, you see corporate executives proudly talk about how they're lowering labor costs by replacing us. That has to end.

I think — two arguments. There's the moral and ethical argument, which is to put Americans first because it's our country. But two, Americans are far more qualified. You're not going to push the frontiers of technological progress by hiring a cheap programmer from India.

And so long term, I would actually not be willing to invest in companies that are replacing Americans with cheap foreign labor because cheap foreign labor did not put a man on the moon, did not connect us to the internet, did not build the Macintosh, did not send the Wright brothers into flight. And so we have to remember that you cannot make America great again without Americans, period.

STEVE BANNON (HOST): And particularly people coming into the job market. I mean 12 million STEM workers with no work. How do you — was this a forerunner when you were there speaking last weekend or last week — is that a forerunner to the Bo French situation? We're going to Posobiec here talking about that in the next hour.

Is that a forerunner that right below the surface people are looking for a permission structure that people like Bo French and Fishback give them to actually debate and talk about a topic that's supposed to be — you can't talk about.

FISHBACK: Well, a long, thoughtful question like that deserves a long, thoughtful answer, Steve. Yes, that's exactly right.It struck at the same chord. 

As we look around, and we barely recognize this country, I want to quote from someone I probably shouldn't, which is Barack Hussein Obama when he wrote in The Audacity of Hope that, call me, quote, ‘nativist,’ but I shouldn't need a translator to get my car fixed. I shouldn't look around my country and feel like it doesn't appear to be a home anymore. And that's that same underlying frustration that I think we're both tapping into.

BANNON: And people — is it a bigger deal in Florida? Because it's certainly a huge deal in Texas, and I noticed that in the energy. You thought you were going to get 50 people. You had 500 and you could have got more if you had a — 

FISHBACK: Two days heads up, by the way

BANNON: — a bigger room. Is that — that's right below the surface. In fact, it's coming to the surface in Texas. It's a huge issue, particularly for young men. Is it as big an issue in Florida?

FISHBACK: It is. It's a huge issue in Florida. I'll speak on Texas for just a moment because I know Talarico is the hot thing right now. Talarico is a great replacement supporter. On his website right now, if you go to the issues page, on his issues page, I'm quoting verbatim, he wants to, quote, help small businesses hire migrant labor, end quote.

Is that somebody you want to support? And I understand some of the frustration around what's going on in Texas right now, but Talarico is a Trojan horse in his own words on his website right now.

I know he's doing 180s on transgender this and that. On his website right now, he says, quote, help small businesses hire migrant labor, end quote. That is the great replacement in writing. It is a confession to what he will vote for and support in the United States Senate. We cannot have Talarico in the Senate.

BANNON: Mass deportations. How high a priority is that for these young men?

FISHBACK: Number one. It is number one. One young man recounted to me that he remembered vividly seeing at the 2024 Republican convention those signs that said mass deportations now. Steve, you and I know those signs were nowhere to be found at last week's convention. They want mass deportation — 

BANNON: Well, they were banned. 

FISHBACK: They were banned. 

BANNON: I know Mike Howell, you know, made them up. Mike Howell made them up, and they said, no, we're not allowing those type of signs in the main room. 

FISHBACK: That's an indictment upon both the mass deportations betrayal but also on the free speech betrayal as well. 

BANNON: Right.

FISHBACK: But that's where we are. They want to see the invasion reversed. They want to see remigration. That's what I've supported. The young men are the most conservative, far right — and so far they've been right — that I've seen in a long time.