ISTANBUL

The White House has urged Republican lawmakers to avoid discussing “mass deportations” ahead of the US midterm elections, according to US media.

The Washington Post reported Tuesday that during a closed-door retreat of House Republicans in Doral, Florida, James Blair and Lisa C. McClain advised lawmakers to instead focus on deportations of violent offenders, according to people familiar with the meeting.

A senior Republican aide said the party’s messaging would be “about deporting violent criminals and not mass deportations.”

The shift comes as polling indicates declining public support for sweeping deportation policies associated with President Donald Trump, who previously pledged to launch “the largest deportation in the history of our country.”

White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson said the policy itself has not changed, emphasizing that Trump’s “highest priority has always been the deportation of illegal alien criminals who endanger American communities.”