CNN chief data analyst Harry Enten said Saturday on “CNN Newsroom” that net migration into the U.S. is on track to be negative —something that hasn’t happened in “at least 50 years.”
On the campaign trail, President Donald Trump focused on issues that resonated with voters, including immigration, inflation and the economy. While discussing how the administration has followed through on campaign promises, Enten noted that immigration is projected to drop “at least 60%.”
“It is not the only way that Trump is remaking America,” Enten said. “The other big thing that Trump ran on, right, was immigration. How about net migration in the United States? Get this. It’s down. It’s going to be down at least 60%. We may be dealing with, get this, negative net migration to the United States in 2025. That would be the first time there is negative net migration in this country in at least 50 years.”
“We’re talking about down from 2.8 million in 2024,” Enten added. “So Donald Trump has always run on tariffs and he’s running a hawkish line on immigration. And on both of those issues, we are seeing record high tariff rates for this century going all the way back, well back into the early part of the 20th century. When it comes to immigration, net migration, we are seeing record low levels, way down from where we were during the Biden administration.”
With the border crisis peaking under the Biden-Harris administration, the U.S. quickly felt the impact of millions of illegal migrants entering the country. Sanctuary cities like New York City and Denver were overwhelmed, with resources depleted and some mayors pleading with the administration for help.
Issues like drug trafficking, the brutal deaths of a handful of Americans and reports of hundreds of thousands of missing migrant children also were major issues during the Biden administration.
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Since Trump’s January inauguration, he has signed a wave of executive orders targeting the border and drug cartels, including measures that enabled mass arrests of illegal migrants. According to Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data, nationwide illegal crossings in June hit a record low of just 25,228 encounters.
In addition to immigration, Enten highlighted Trump’s trade agenda. When a CNN host asked whether Trump “always chickens out” on tariffs, Enten pushed back, emphasizing that the president has followed through.
“No, I don’t think that’s true, Omar. I think the theme of this segment is going to be love it, like it, lump it, Trump’s remaking the United States of America. We can start there with tariffs,” Enten continued. “What are we talking about? No tacos for Trump. The effective tariff rate, get this, 18%. It is the highest, the highest since the 1930s up from, get this, just 2% last year. As I’m going to talk about in this segment, I can’t think of a more influential president during this century. ”
“It starts here with tariffs. He said he was going to raise tariffs. Despite the claims, otherwise, he is, in fact, doing that. The effective tariff rate at this point looks to be nine times as high as it was last year, the highest since the 1930s in FDR, Omar.”
Enten went on to note that Trump has already signed 180 executive orders in 2025—an amount he said is only comparable to the FDR administration. The CNN chief analyst also pointed out that during President Joe Biden’s first year in office, he had signed just 77 executive orders.
“Donald Trump is remaking the United States,” Enten added. “Love it, like it or lump it. He has been tremendously influential to a historic degree, Omar.”
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