Arrests of illegal border crossers have dropped since the beginning of the year — something an Immigration and Customs Enforcement official indirectly credited to the Trump administration.
Recent data from the U.S. Border Patrol shows roughly 19,900 illegal immigrants were arrested in May — a drop of roughly 35,400 from May 2016.
Matthew Albence, executive director of Enforcement and Removal Operations at ICE, told the Senate Judiciary Committee crossings of unaccompanied children illegally are also down.
“[S]ome of that can be attributed to the more robust civil immigration enforcement that has been occurring as of late,” Albence told the panel during a Wednesday hearing on transnational gangs.
Albence explained a “pull-factor from the fault being that there was lax immigration enforcement policies” causing unaccompanied children to cross the southern border in extremely high numbers in 2015.
“The more robust enforcement […] and the way that we are enforcing it is preventing a deterrent so that there is no incentive for these individuals to come because they feel as though they are going to be returned,” Albence said.
During his presidential campaign, Trump promised a crackdown on immigration.
Albence never mentioned Trump, but Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly has credited Trump for deterring illegal immigration.
In April, he told the Senate Homeland Security Committee to give credit to the Trump administration for its tough rhetoric.
