The number of illegal crossings across the U.S.-Mexico border has dropped dramatically since President Donald Trump took office only a week ago.
According to Fox News, a Texas Sheriff has detailed how the effect has been immediate, with local law enforcement and Border Patrol noting there has been a “complete 180” since Trump signed his executive orders on immigration.
Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland of Terrell County, Texas, joined “Fox & Friends First” to discuss the change, and Fox News noted only three days before Trump’s inauguration, there were a reported 1,288 illegal crossings. As of Sunday, that number had dropped to 582.
“You know, it’s a complete 180, it’s the difference between night and day,” Cleveland said, “I don’t remember a day, you know, in my 26-year career as a border patrol agent that we had that few apprehensions … what it allows border patrol to do, is to get back out on the border and start looking for new points and new pathways that people are utilizing to enter the United States illegally.”
Cleveland added that over the past four years people who had crossed illegally were more likely to turn themselves into law enforcement for processing, however, he noted that the illegal migrants who are crossing now, are more likely to be associated with criminal activity and are trying to avoid law enforcement.
“Specifically, here in my county, what we’ve seen transpire over the past four years, it isn’t what we had in terms of people turning themselves in, surrendering, what we deal with are those who do want to enter illegally and they want to abscond. If we can encounter them in the field, they run, or on the highways, they lead us into those high-speed pursuits.” Cleveland said, adding they have also apprehended Venezuelan smugglers.
During former President Joe Biden’s term in office, illegal border crossing peaked at over 11,000 encounters per day, per Fox News. However, Cleveland noted the job on the border is still dangerous, as Mexican cartels are now beginning to open fire on border patrol agents. Those same cartels have now been designated as terrorist organizations by Trump.
“That’s the music we dance to down here on the border,” Cleveland said, “Even though it’s been a while since we’ve seen something like that, it’s not new to the U.S. Border Patrol. But as we continue to put in policies, as we continue to get border patrol agents out in the field, as we put the Department of Defense on the border with us … we’re gonna see the cartels get more brazen.”
