President Donald Trump has been in office for 25 days, and his immigration policies have already started paying off. Traffic at the border has reportedly plummeted to surprising levels even before his immigration policies have fully kicked in.
This month, about 359 illegal immigrants have been apprehended along the southern border, according to a New York Post report. This represents a whopping 90 percent drop from February 2024.
That puts the US on track to have the lowest monthly border crossings in at least 25 years. If the trend continues, the number of illegal migrants coming into the US could hit a level not seen since 1968, nearly 60 years ago.
It’s the lowest the US has seen “in almost a lifetime,” said Mark Krikorian, the executive director at the Center for Immigration Studies.
“If you kind of break down the numbers, divide them by 365, we haven’t had numbers this low since the 1960s. So we’re talking 60-year lows if it’s sustained, obviously,” he said.
The CBP data shows that just 3,953 illegal migrants have been caught this month through Feb. 11.
If the trend continues through the month, that would put February border crossings at roughly 10,000, which is a number that hasn’t been seen since CBP began tracking month-to-month data in 1999.
The drop in border crossings has already had an impact. Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland in Terrel County, Texas, told The Post that his office is typically inundated with reports of illegal border crossings around this time of the year. He noted that the situation has “gone from one extreme to the other, historic levels of people crossing, historic levels of the low apprehensions.”
A source at Border Patrol told the New York Post that the decline in border crossings is a result of the Trump administration’s immediate action on illegal immigration, particularly ending the former administration’s “catch and release” policy while deploying troops to the southern border. He said, “A message is being sent out that the border isn’t going to be trampled over anymore, that national security isn’t a joke to us.”
This news comes as leftists are engaged in a full-court press to oppose Trump’s immigration policies. A group of about 150 people recently marched on the campus of Colorado State University to express support for immigrants and opposition to the administration.
After listening to a handful of speakers on the Lory Student Center Plaza, interspersed with a variety of chants, the group marched to the university’s administration building, less than a half-mile away, on the historic Oval. There, additional speakers took a megaphone to address the crowd, leading more chants, including “No ICE, no KKK, no fascist USA!” “No hate, no fear, immigrants are welcome here!” and “Show me what democracy looks like; this is what democracy looks like!”
More than 3,000 students signed a petition asking the university to clarify its position on the enforcement of immigration laws on the CSU campus in light of President Donald Trump’s reversal of a policy that previously prevented immigration enforcement in churches, schools and hospitals, said Michael May, a student leader in CSU’s chapter of the Young Democratic Socialists of America.
“What the university needs to do in this moment is stand with the students that are impacted by this,” May told the Coloradoan.
The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops have condemned the president over an executive order allowing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents to enter churches and schools to apprehend illegal immigrants.
Vice President JD Vance defended the move, pointing out that “if you have a person who is convicted of a violent crime, whether they’re an illegal immigrant or a non-illegal immigrant, you have to go and get that person to protect the public safety.”
Recent polling shows that a growing number of Americans support President Trump’s immigration policies. About 49 percent support building a wall along the southern border. This is a significant increase from attitudes back in 2018.
Since January 2018, support for this measure has risen 11 points. Opposition has fallen during that time too (56% oppose in January 2018 vs. 37% February 2025). However, over the same time, about twice as many Americans say they don’t know whether they support this proposal or not (6% in January 2018 vs. 11% February 2025).
This could be good news on the immigration front. It means we have a president who is willing to take the matter seriously. Under the Biden administration, the border crisis grew even worse due to the former president’s inaction. Perhaps now, the government can finally get this situation under control.