'Trump Effect' credited for 74% plunge in migrant encounters at southern border: report
Migrant encounters at the United States southwest border have reportedly fallen by 74% since the Republican President Donald Trump took office last month.
Within the first 15 days of Trump taking office for the second time, the southwest border saw a total of 12,500 migrant encounters in total, averaging around 833 each day, according to new U.S. Department of Homeland Security data obtained by NewsNation. DHS sources have referred to the decline as "The Trump Effect."
"That's lower than the president's first-week average, 1,050," the outlet reported. "In the past eight days alone, encounter averages have sunk further to 650 daily."
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“This is how it’s supposed to look…” DHS sources say the nearly 75% plunge in southern border encounters is attributed to “The Trump Effect…”
— Ali Bradley (@AliBradleyTV) February 4, 2025
On Feb. 1st, Border Patrol saw fewer than 400 encounters—Data showing about 390 illegal immigrants crossed the southern border… pic.twitter.com/YR41LDjO6g
NewsNation correspondent Ali Bradley, who covers the southern border, shared in a Tuesday X post a graph of southwest border encounters under the second Trump administration. The data shows that Border Patrol had fewer than 400 encounters on Feb. 1.
"By comparison — For last 3 months of 2024 — We were at 3,223 per day on average," the network correspondent wrote.
According to Bradley, sources within the DHS said, "This is how it's supposed to look," commenting on the decline in border encounters that officials attributed to Trump.
Throughout the 2024 campaign, the president promised to strengthen border security and combat illegal immigration.
On Jan. 17, the agency released a statement before Trump's inauguration, stating that the DHS took "unprecedented steps" to secure the border during the Biden-Harris administration. The agency acknowledged the past four years of "historic levels of global migration."
"Since the June 4 Presidential Proclamation Securing the Border, utilizing the President's 212(f) authority, and the accompanying DHS-DOJ Rule, there has been a continued, meaningful decrease in unlawful border crossings — including a more than 60% decrease in encounters between ports of entry along the southwest border from May 2024 to December 2024," the DHS statement reads.
"November and December encounters between ports of entry were at their lowest level since August 2020, and recent monthly encounter levels have been lower than the monthly average in 2019," the agency continued.
"In the first half of January 2025, Border Patrol encounters are nearly 50 percent lower than at the same point in January 2021. The 7-day daily average of encounters currently sits at 1,150 and has been below 1,500 for 21 consecutive days."
The DHS listed increased consequences for unlawful entry and an 89% decrease in the number of migrants released by the U.S. Border Patrol pending immigration court proceedings as some of the factors responsible for the decrease.
DHS did not immediately respond to The Christian Post's request for comment.
Critics of former President Joe Biden's immigration policy have cited the administration's reversal of several policies from Trump's first presidency as the reason for the surge in illegal immigration.
After taking office, Biden reversed the Migrant Protection Protocol requiring asylum seekers to remain in Mexico while their claims were adjudicated and rescinded the national emergency at the border declared by Trump during his first term. Biden also halted construction on the U.S.-Mexico border wall, which Trump repeatedly promised to build to strengthen security.
Following his inauguration in January, Trump signed multiple executive orders, which included the designation of drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations due to "the unacceptable national security risk" to the U.S., among other reasons.
Trump also signed an executive order declaring a national emergency at the southern border, directing the secretary of defense to deploy additional personnel to the border.
The order directs the defense and homeland security secretaries to finish the wall along the southern border. Trump's order also directed the secretary of defense to deploy additional personnel to the border to enhance security.
Samantha Kamman is a reporter for The Christian Post. She can be reached at: samantha.kamman@christianpost.com. Follow her on Twitter: @Samantha_Kamman
