Border arrests plummet 39% in January in early gauge of Trump's immigration policies

Border arrests plummeted in January due to Trump's immigration policies, reaching the lowest point since May 2020.

Arrests for illegal border crossings from Mexico plummeted 39 per cent in January from a month earlier, authorities said on Tuesday, an early gauge of President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown.

The Border Patrol made 21,593 arrests during the month, down from 47,316 in December and the lowest mark since May 2020 near the peak of the COVID-19 epidemic, according to US Customs and Border Protection.

"Call it the Trump effect," the White House said in a statement.

Border arrests fell sharply well before Trump took office from an all-time high of 2,50,000 in December 2023. Mexican authorities increased enforcement within their own borders and then-president Joe Biden introduced severe asylum restrictions in June.

Arrests sank even further after Trump was sworn in on January 20 and issued a slew of orders on immigration, including one to suspend asylum on grounds that the US is under "invasion" at the southern border.

Border czar Tom Homan said on Monday that there were 229 border arrests in a 24-hour period, the lowest he remembered since becoming a Border Patrol agent in 1984. Homeland Security Department officials say they want to drive that to zero.

Border Patrol Chief Michael Banks said on Friday in Edinburg, Texas, that he will "not be satisfied that our border is secure until we have operational control of our border, which means anyone that crosses illegally is apprehended or no one crosses".