The Border Patrol saw its best single day in more than 15 years with just 200 illegal immigrants nabbed at the southern border, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem announced Monday.

That daily figure topped 10,000 at some points during the Biden administration.

Homeland Security said the drop is a result of the stiff policies of President Trump and Ms. Noem.

“President Trump and Secretary Noem have sent a clear message to illegal aliens: do not come to our country. You will not be allowed in. And if you get in, we will hunt you down and deport you,” the department said. “That message has been received.”

Mr. Trump declared a border emergency, deployed the military to assist with detection and deportation of unauthorized crossers and shut down mass “parole” programs that had allowed migrants to enter as long as they scheduled ahead of time.

The result has been migrants who’d been waiting in Mexico deciding to give up and return home.

The 200 figure Ms. Noem touted on Monday is the number of arrests made by Border Patrol agents along the U.S.-Mexico boundary.

That doesn’t include so-called “gotaways,” whom agents detected entering but were unable to reel in.

There, too, the Trump administration has made major strides.

White House border czar Tom Homan said this weekend that gotaways, which hit a high of 1,800 in a day under the Biden administration, totaled just 48 on Friday.

The stiff Trump changes don’t come without a cost, according to immigrant rights groups, who say candidates for asylum are being turned away without getting a chance to earn protections here.

• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.