(NewsNation) — Migrant encounters on the nation’s southwest border have plummeted by 74% since President Donald Trump took office, DHS data obtained by NewsNation revealed.
In the first 15 days of Trump’s second term, the southwest border has seen some 12,500 migrant encounters in total. That averages around 833 each day.
That’s lower than the president’s first-week average, 1,050. In the past eight days alone, encounter averages have sunk further to 650 daily.
On Feb. 1, Border Patrol saw fewer than 400 encounters, with data showing about 390 migrants illegally crossing the southern border Saturday.
By comparison, for the last 3 months of 2024, we were at 3,223 on average per day.
‘The Trump Effect’ on Border Encounters
Department of Homeland Security sources attribute the steep drop to “The Trump Effect.”
Trump spent his first week in office bringing the U.S.-Mexico border to the nation’s center stage.
His first actions included signing a slew of executive orders to curtail immigration and deport unauthorized migrants already in the country. One order, signed on Day 1, shut down the CBP One app, canceling all outstanding appointments made by migrants seeking visas.
Others designated cartels as foreign terrorist organizations, attempted to end birthright citizenship and shuttered the U.S. refugee program. Immigration officers are also now permitted to enter sensitive locations like schools and churches to conduct raids.
He also deployed around 4,000 more personnel from the Army, National Guard and the Marines to the border, making good on his promise to bolster military presence.
In the United States, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations and arrests have escalated, averaging more than 1,000 arrests per day. The agency is aiming for 1,500 daily arrests.
But with nearly 1.5 million migrants set to be deported, where will they go?
Trump said tens of thousands of migrants, considered “the worst of the worst,” will be heading to Guantanamo Bay detention camp.