Arrests on the border fall 39 % in January after Trump immigration policies

The arrests for irregular crossings on the border of the United States with Mexico fell 39 % in January compared to the previous month, US authorities reported on Tuesday, in which it represents a first indicator of the hardening of the Migratory policies by the government of President Donald Trump.

The border patrol made 21,593 arrests during the month, a decrease with respect to the 47,316 in December and the lowest figure since May 2020, near the highest point of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to the Office of Customs and Border Protection ( CBP).

«Let’s call it the ‘Trump effect’,» said the White House in a statement.

The arrests at the border fell dramatically long before Trump assumed the position, from a historical maximum of 250,000 registered in December 2023. The Mexican authorities increased the application of the law within their own borders and then President Joe Biden implemented hard Asylum restrictions in June.

The arrests decreased even more after Trump assumed the position on January 20 and issued a series of immigration orders, including one to suspend asylum under the argument that the United States is under «invasion» on the southern border.

Trump’s border tsarTom Homan, said Monday that 229 arrests were recorded at the border in a period of 24 hours, the lowest figure he remembered since he became an agent of the border patrol in 1984. Officials of the Department of National Security said they want to Reduce that figure to zero.

The head of the Border Patrol, Michael Banks, said Friday in Edinburg, Texas, that «it will not be satisfied until we have operational control of our border, which means that anyone who crosses illegally is stopped or that no one crosses.»

The National Security Department announced on Tuesday that it launched an advertising video campaign of several million dollars in the United States and an international level, in which the secretary Kristi Noem warns the people who leave or do not come to the country. “If you are illegally, we will find you and we will deport you. You will never return, ”he says in the video.

Connect with the voice of America! Subscribe to our channels of YouTube, WhatsApp and al Newsletter. Activate notifications and follow us in Facebook, X and Instagram.