Thread: Illegal immigration down 67 percent under Trump: Former commissioner

By Stephen Dinan - The Washington Times - Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border has continued to fall under President Trump, dropping 67 percent through the end of March, the former border commissioner told Congress on Tuesday.

That’s even bigger than the drop reported for February, when the number of illegal immigrants caught — a yardstick for the overall flow — dropped by 40 percent.

“It’s actually up to 67 percent drop compared to last year,” David V. Aguilar, a former chief of the Border Patrol and former acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation of the numbers Mr. Aguilar cited.

The agency has been releasing its monthly figures each month, though the March figures have not been released.

But a drop anywhere close to the 67 percent figure Mr. Aguilar cited would be stunning, and suggests the early steps the president has taken to free up agents to enforce immigration laws at the interior and the border, and his plans to build a border wall, have deterred tens of thousands of would-be crossers.

Mr. Aguilar said these kinds of drops have occurred before, during the Reagan administration, after Congress passed a broad amnesty granting legal status to millions of illegal immigrants, and promised to get tough on enforcement.

The legalization followed, but the tough enforcement didn’t come — and illegal immigration soared in the ensuing 20 years.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/...t-under-trump/

Wow. If those numbers are accurate, that is really really great. Look forward to the final official numbers being posted for March. Keep up the great work Border Patrol, ICE, Secretary Kelly and our dear President Trump who is really the one most responsible in my opinion.

It's his zero-tolerance, his hard rhetoric, his Executive Orders, and much more that have really made such a drop possible. It could be a temporary drop, never know, so keep the pressure on, build the wall, hire more BP and ICE Agents and Immigration Judges, stay hard on the ass of the cartels, and keep enlisting support and cooperation from state and local law enforcement on arrests and deportations.

Also give the Sanctuary Cities not an inch. If they don't sign up for the 287 (g) program, then in my opinion, they are not part of the solution, they are part of the problem, and aiding, abetting and harboring massive numbers of illegal aliens and need their federal funds cut off.

I don't know how accurate those number are since "Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation of the numbers Mr. Aguilar cited." However, I do see this as a potential double-edged sword, a win-lose situation if you will.

Should the number continue to fall the U.S. Congress may see this as the opportunity they've been waiting for to make another strong attempt at passing a "comprehensive" immigration reform bill (amnesty). They may also use the information as a tool to deprive Trump the backing he needs to get the border wall built.

While I think it's great that the border intrusion numbers are falling, I worry about how fast it's happening because I fear this information may be used against us. I just hope this doesn't turn into one of those damned if you do and damned if you don't situations.

Good. Now cut off the anchor baby scam, the freebies, get them out of our schools and healthcare and make them self-deport by the thousands!

No more Central American's...terminate that asylum SCAM off to.

DO NOT REWARD...DEPORT!