With a heavy military presence on the U.S.-Mexico border, illegal immigrants have gotten the memo: Try to sneak into the country and you will be caught and sent back home.
The Trump administration’s efforts to close down the United States’ southern border have been successful—and it took less than two months.
Illegal crossings along the nearly 2,000-mile border with Mexico have dropped to record lows. U.S. Border Patrol detected just 7,181 illegal crossers in March, The Washington Times reports.
That’s an average of 230 a day and fewer than one person per eight miles of border, constituting a new record low. Even Tom Homan, the man charged with getting control of America’s illegal immigration crisis and deporting illegal criminal aliens, is impressed.
“I started as a Border Patrol Agent in 1984, which was 41 years ago. I cannot recall a single month since then that the numbers have been that low,” noted Homan, President Donald Trump’s border czar.
According to a recent report by FOX News, the Trump administration has deported 100,000 illegal migrants since he took office.
The numbers prove another argument: The Biden administration could have clamped down on illegal immigration a long time ago. Former President Joe Biden lied that he needed legislation. As Trump noted, “All we really needed was a new president.”
Under Biden’s failed leadership, Border Patrol was seeing more illegal border crossings in a single day than in an entire month under Trump. And they weren’t given any authority to try and stop it.
Agents with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) quickly got to work after Trump took office on Jan. 20. Coordinated ICE raids have taken place across the country to round up criminals who are in the U.S. illegally.
At the southern border, both Border Patrol agents and thousands of active-duty troops stand guard to stop illegal migrants and drugs from entering the country. In early February, Mexico also agreed to deploy 10,000 national guard troops to its northern border to delay U.S. tariffs, FOX News reported.
In early March, the Pentagon authorized another 5,050 additional troops to the U.S.-Mexico border. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered a Stryker brigade combat team (SBCT) and a general support aviation battalion to “bolster military support in securing the U.S.–Mexico border,”
The strong military presence is working. Migrants who had been waiting in Mexico for a chance to cross have turned around and streamed back south.
“The message is clear: The border is closed to illegal crossings, and for those still willing to test our resolve, know this — you will be prosecuted, and you will be deported,” said Pete Flores, acting commissioner at Customs and Border Protection.
Construction on the border wall is set to resume again, too, after the Biden administration tried to auction off pieces of Trump’s border wall. CBP said it signed new border wall contracts in March to carry on with Trump’s most visible promise from his first presidential campaign, The Washington Times reports.
After being sworn in, Trump immediately got to work on his campaign promises and declared a national emergency at the southern border. He signed a number of executive orders intended to crack down on illegal crossings.
As part of the massive deportation effort, and despite multiple legal challenges to stop him, Trump brokered a deal with El Salvador to take Venezuelan and MS-13 gang members. His administration is also flying illegal migrants back to their home countries and housing criminals at military bases.
Trump’s team has ended “parole” programs that drew people to the U.S., halted federal funding for refugee programs, and shut down the avenue for iffy asylum claims, which enabled the quick catch-and-release of criminals under the Biden administration.
