The number of illegal border crossers has declined for the fourth consecutive month.
That in itself is amazing since Trump has had to battle Democrats, Republicans, the media and George Soros to accomplish anything. His deal with Mexico is paying dividends but look for the Democrats withholding the vote on the USMCA trade deal to punish and threaten Mexico against cooperating with Trump.
In September, 52,546 illegals were either turned away or were detained at our border with Mexico. That is a 65% drop from the 144,000 encountered in May and an 18% drop just from August. Those are some hefty numbers.
“This represents the fourth month in a row of a steady decline in apprehensions,” Acting CBP Commissioner Mark Morgan told reporters. “This is an unprecedented achievement.”
Morgan pointed to agreements with other countries such as the Migrant Protection Protocols (MPP), which involves sending migrants back to Mexico to await their hearings. MPP is currently facing legal challenges, as well as objections from activists that the protocols involves migrants being sent back to potentially dangerous areas where they can be attacked by smugglers and gangs.
But Morgan said that CBP has enrolled more than 51,000 migrants in MPP and said they receive protection and permission to work while in Mexico.
“With MPP, migrants are receiving due process and protection while the United States is restoring integrity to our immigration system,” he said. “We’re closing the loopholes and diminishing the smuggling organizations’ ability to profit on the back of these migrants, while simultaneously exploiting our system.”
Morgan also cited the administration’s efforts to end the 1997 Flores settlement that limits the amount of time minors can be kept in detention.
He also pointed to regional agreements with countries such as Guatemala and El Salvador.