Dramatic Decrease in Illegal Border Crossings Following Trump’s Inauguration

Recently, fewer than 600 people crossed into the United States illegally from Mexico in a single day, a notably low figure when considering trends during Donald Trump’s presidency. Reports indicate that each of the nine border sectors experienced fewer than 200 crossings on January 26, culminating in a total of only 582 encounters for that day. In particular, the Del Rio sector, which once saw more than 4,000 crossings daily during the peak of the border crisis in December 2023, recorded just 60 illegal entries.

For context, during the final days of Joe Biden's presidency, daily border encounters fluctuated between 1,200 and 1,400. The data has continued to decline sharply since January 20; earlier reports from last week revealed significant drops in crossing numbers. In fact, in the initial three days of Trump’s administration, there were a total of 2,523 encounters logged, with daily figures registered at 1,073, 736, and 714 from January 20 to January 22. In stark contrast, the last days of Biden's administration recorded 3,908 encounters, with numbers indicating 1,288 on January 17, 1,266 on January 18, and 1,354 on January 19, according to the Department of Homeland Security.

Coinciding with these recent statistics, there was an incident on Monday where Border Patrol agents engaged in a gunfight with suspected cartel members near Fronton, Texas; fortunately, no injuries were reported from either side. During his inauguration, President Trump pledged to declare a national emergency regarding the southern border, asserting his commitment to immediately halt all illegal entries and initiate the return of criminal aliens to their countries of origin. Additionally, he emphasized his intention to deploy troops to the border to counteract what he described as an invasion of the United States.