One year ago, President Donald Trump declared a crisis at the southern border during an address to the nation, as a surge of migrant caravans, families, and unaccompanied children overwhelmed the U.S. border. Since then, there has been a major turnaround. The latest numbers from U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) show total border apprehensions fell for the seventh straight month in December, and are down a whopping 75 percent since the peak of the border crisis last May.
CBP credits the steep decline to new policies enacted by the Trump Administration, including stricter asylum rules, increased border staffing, new barriers, and better cooperation with Mexico to deal with migrants and refugees before they reach the U.S. border. Curtis Collier with U.S. Border Watch tells KTRH it's about time. "As we start getting cooperation from the Mexican government, we see better morale with the Border Patrol, plus we're getting some new fencing and things like that, we see the numbers start turning around, and it happens fairly quickly," says Collier. "And as we see it happening here in our country, down in Latin America and all through South America the word is getting out down there as well."
Despite the drop in apprehensions, Texas is still one of the biggest trouble spots along the border. The Rio Grande Valley Sector had the highest number of apprehensions during December. Collier is not surprised by that. "Texas and certainly Houston is a huge draw for human traffickers, and the number one (trafficking) hub in the nation," he says. "Because of that, our numbers will always be higher."
Overall, Collier wants to see the Trump Administration continue and build upon these policies to keep reducing illegal border crossings. "We need to get away from the politics side of it, and into doing what is in the best interest of this country as far as protecting ourselves along the border," he says.