These planned deportations.... are mainly for show. There are two main audiences. One is the nativists in Mr. Trump’s political base, who may have noticed that despite his huffing and puffing — and very likely partly because of it — undocumented migrants are entering the country at a rate unseen in more than a decade. .... The other audience is prospective migrants in Central America, whom the administration would like to deter by sending the message, with its deportation show of force, that trekking across the border is likely to be costly and ultimately fruitless.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trumps-planned-deportations-are-mainly-for-show-thats-all/2019/07/13/f805e70e-a4e5-11e9-bd56-eac6bb02d01d_story.html