The brand new US Border Patrol chief stated the variety of unlawful migrants stopped making an attempt to cross the besieged southern border has dropped an astonishing 90% since January 21 — a day after President Trump’s inauguration.
Michael Banks, a longtime former border agent himself, touted the plunge in unlawful crossings in an interview on Fox Information’ “Fox and Friends” Thursday, including that prosecutions of legal migrants the company has apprehended have additionally jumped 52%.
“US Border Patrol knows how to get the job done, we know how to secure the border. All we needed was a president that was going to empower us — a strong leader like President Trump — and a secretary like Secretary Noem that knows exactly what we need to do to secure the border,” he stated.
Banks didn’t present the precise figures on unlawful border crossings or make clear what time interval he was evaluating the drop to, nevertheless, Border Patrol figures seen by The Put up present that the variety of migrants within the company’s custody has plummeted by greater than 500% for the reason that summer season.
US Customs and Border Patrol at present has roughly 1,500 unlawful immigrants in custody — a drop within the bucket in comparison with June when over 10,000 migrants have been locked up.
The staggering decline within the variety of migrants in custody is a direct results of the Trump administration’s dedication to ramped-up enforcement, the info reveals.
Banks, Texas’ former border czar, additionally dispelled misinformation that the company was cruelly focusing on “abuelas” (grandmothers) and households as an alternative of hardened criminals.
“It’s just nonsense. It’s rhetoric that we’re targeting … school buses and children. It’s absurd. And if you want to talk about abuelas, my abuela is a naturalized citizen from Mexico,” he stated.
“We’re certainly not targeting abuelas, we’re not targeting people who are in this country legally and don’t have the authority to go after someone who’s in this country legally,” he added.
“We’re targeting criminals, and those who have broken the law by entering the country illegally.”
The numbers beneath Trump’s new enforcement regime converse for themselves.
Not solely have greater than 5,500 unlawful migrants wished for violent crimes been taken off the streets since Inauguration Day, however once-bustling border crossing hubs have slowed to a relative trickle.
This has been notably pronounced in Texas. On Feb. 5, simply 396 unlawful crossings have been recorded throughout El Paso, Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, Del Rio and Large Bend.
Del Rio alone was seeing hundreds of unlawful crossings per day beneath the Biden administration, together with a spike in September, 2021 when greater than 14,000 Haitian migrants appeared on the border over a matter of days.
