‘Thanks to President Trump and Secretary Noem, our enforcement officers are finally able to do their jobs,’ a DHS spokesperson said.
The Trump administration has removed over 50,000 illegal immigrants in its effort to carry out the largest mass deportation effort in American history.
A little over a month into President Donald Trump’s term, federal authorities have removed 55,000 illegal immigrants, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security confirmed to National Review on Friday.
“Our brave ICE and CBP officers were hamstrung for the last four years—blockaded from doing their jobs,” the DHS spokesperson said, referring to the Biden administration’s years-long refusal to enforce immigration law and restrict border crossings.
“Thanks to President Trump and Secretary Noem, our enforcement officers are finally able to do their jobs to keep the American people safe. This is just the beginning. We will deliver on President Trump’s mandate and vision.”
The Daily Mail first reported on the number of illegal alien removals and the recent arrests of two migrant fugitives who each spent two decades on the run.
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and border czar Tom Homan have overseen the Trump administration’s mass deportation campaign. Last week, the Trump administration reassigned acting ICE director Caleb Vitello amid frustration about deportations were not going quickly enough and details of upcoming raids being leaked to the media.
Homan has accused FBI officials of being behind the leaks and suggested that he will have individual perpetrators jailed. Noem has also warned employees that DHS will begin using polygraph tests to find leakers sending information to media and nonprofits without authorization, Bloomberg Government first reported.
Trump made mass deportations a signature campaign promise and his administration’s efforts have received continued public support in various polls. Trump began initiating mass deportations on the first day of his term with a series of executive orders designed to crack down on southern border crossings.
Additionally, Trump signed the bipartisan Laken Riley Act last month empowering federal agents to detain illegal immigrants arrested for theft and related crimes until they are deported. The bipartisan bill was named after a Georgia nursing student who was brutally murdered by a Venezuelan illegal immigrant last February, sparking national outcry.
Given the circumstances, migrants are now deciding to turn back around and go elsewhere instead of attempting to cross the southern border under the Trump administration.
“I had a call yesterday with one of these countries — they now have people doing U-turns. They were on their way here and they realized, okay, [the US is] not playing around anymore, President Trump is serious, and they’ve done a U-turn,” Secretary of State Marco Rubio told Fox News earlier this week.
Border crossings have plummeted to historic lows during Trump’s first month back in office, dropping by as much as 90 percent since Trump’s inauguration, border patrol chief Michael Banks earlier this month. Noem has also touted the drop in daily border encounters to a 15 year low under Trump’s leadership.
“We slashed border encounters from a staggering 15,000 a day under Joe Biden to a 15-year low of just 200 under @realDonaldTrump,” Noem said on X Thursday.
“We are unleashing the Border Patrol, ICE, and our entire DHS Team to secure our border and send illegal aliens back to where they came from.”
Noem also said that more than 20,000 illegal aliens were arrested in Trump’s first month, a 627 percent increase in monthly arrests compared to the Biden administration. Reflecting the President’s view, Noem has consistently warned illegal aliens not to come to the U.S. illegally and recently launched an ad campaign to spread the message.