OAN Staff Blake Wolf
12:22 PM – Friday, February 21, 2025
Border Patrol Chief Mike Banks revealed that illegal border crossings are now down 94% across the southern border, compared to the same time last year.
Banks attributed the sharp decrease in illegal crossings to the Trump administration’s laser-sharp focus on securing the border — especially after the loose “catch and release” policies of the previous Biden administration.
“The greater the punishment, the larger the deterrent,” Banks stated.
Banks also revealed that Border Patrol agents have averaged an apprehension rate of 285 migrants per day, which is much less compared to the around 5,000 per day numbers last year.
The decrease in apprehensions and illegal crossings stem from President Donald Trump’s executive orders, which end the previous DHS system of allowing foreign “asylum seekers” to live within the United States while they wait for their cases to be heard by a judge — as well as deploying thousands of additional troops to shore up the southern border.
“You do not cross the border illegally and then make an asylum claim,” he continued. “You can go to the port of entry, or you can go to one of the embassies in your country and make your claim for asylum.”
The Biden administration’s “catch and release” policy saw the release of over three million illegal aliens while they waited for their case to be heard between January 2021 to December 2023.
“I can tell you this: anyone that has crossed the border between the ports of entry since this administration has taken office has not been released,” Banks stated.
At the beginning of February, President Donald Trump was also able to convince Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum to send 10,000 troops to the Mexican border in order to deter illegal immigration and drug smuggling into the United States. If she refused, Trump warned that her country would suffer from high tariffs.
“There will be permanent surveillance on the border,” stated José Luis Santos Iza, a Mexican National Guard leader. “This operation is primarily to prevent drug trafficking from Mexico to the United States, mainly fentanyl.”
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