Illegal immigration across the southern border has fallen back to “normal” levels, and the Trump administration can take the “credit” for instituting policies to turn back the flood of families that started to surge along the border during the Obama administration, according to a new report.
“The border appears to be coming back under control in terms of incoming activity,” said the report from Princeton Policy Advisors.
Princeton President Steven Kopits, an immigration expert, added, “there is still a massive backlog in the courts and regarding migrants being held under various auspices, but the flow has now normalized to more typical levels, and as [of] last month, President Trump can take the credit.”
Kopits had been warning that illegal immigration could top 1 million this year, but his review of the latest border data found that the administration has seized control of illegal crossings and brought it down to historical levels.
Border officials have said that the numbers remain high, but the recent changes are a sign that efforts to build a border wall and work with Central American countries to slow the flow have worked.
As a result, there were fewer families trying to cross the border, and fewer were sent away as “inadmissibles,” said Kopits.
Princeton said of the October numbers, “Customs and Border Protection report that 35,444 persons were apprehended crossing the unsecured U.S. southwest border in October. This was about 5,000 less than the previous month and essentially average for the last decade. It was also about 1,500 below our forecast for the month.”
