The 'Trump effect' dries up the wave of illegal immigrant arrivals at the southern border

Veni, Vinci. Donald Trump hasn't even needed the "vidi" of Julius Caesar's famous phrase to make good on his promise to stop the massive influx of illegal immigrants across the southern border. According to Border Patrol data, encounters plummeted to historic lows in the first seven days since the inauguration, while polls show massive support for the new administration's initiatives.

In fact, on Sunday the 26th, encounters barely reached 582, with no sector of the southern border reaching 200 apprehensions, according to data provided by Border Patrol sources to Fox reporter Bill Melugin. The Texas town of El Paso, the epicenter of the border invasion at its worst moments, barely registered the arrival of 60 undocumented immigrants.

The drop in the number of entries was registered from the first day of the new president. On the 20th there were 1073 encounters, almost 300 fewer than on Joe Biden's last day in office (1,354). In the following days the number continued to fall, to 736 on the 21st and 714 on the 22nd. And then to 582 on Sunday the 26th.

A 55% drop in entries, according to the new Border Patrol chief

According to the new head of the Border Patrol, Michael W. Banks, who took command on January 21, during the seven days prior to the 29th of this month his agents "detained 4.577 people attempting to enter the country illegally, a significant 55% decrease from the 10,281 arrests of the previous week."

The new head stressed that "this trend indicates that our enhanced border security measures are producing results. With more troops on the ground, we are substantially improving the security of our borders." This is a clear reference to the hundreds of soldiers deployed by the Department of Defense to the border, and which has already reached 4,000 soldiers, as confirmed by the new secretary Pete Hegseth.

Nearly 5,500 illegal aliens with criminal records arrested in six days in ICE raids

Trump was also not slow in implementing the second leg of his immigration policy. Despite a slight delay in his plans due to the leak to the media that the raids against immigrants illegal aliens with criminal records would begin immediately in Chicago, operations commenced on Thursday of the same week of the inauguration. Authorities began with the capture of 538 undocumented immigrants on whom some charge was pending.

Since then, ICE, with border czar Tom Homan at the head, and in collaboration with other agencies, has already reported the arrest of nearly 5,500 illegal aliens with criminal records during the first six days since the start of the raids in various locations across the country, including Chicago, New York and Aurora (Colorado).

This leaves an average of 914 arrests per day, a figure that more than doubles the 311 recorded by ICE during Joe Biden's last year in the White House. The record number of arrests in the same day was reached on Monday, the 27th, with 1,179.

Start of mass deportations

Mass deportations have not been long in coming either. Flights to different countries such as Guatemala and Mexico were carried out without major problems, while the Trump Administration bent the resistance of the Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, who was forced to twist his arm in a humiliating way after the threat that his country's products would be taxed with tariffs in retaliation.