Reason #5505 That Trump Was Elected

DHS: Illegal immigration plunges, with March seeing fewest number of monthly arrests at border in 17 years

The most remarkable thing about this is that it’s happening amid good economic news. It takes a lot of deterrence to keep a would-be illegal from crossing the border with the prospect of a (relatively) high-paying American job on the other side. And Trump wants a lot of deterrence — but most of his wishes are, for now, still wishes. He wants 15,000 more Border Patrol agents and of course a long, long wall (with a big door!), but those goals are still a ways off. And yet, apparently, illegals are staying home anyway. I wonder what sort of rumors are being spread in Mexico about the special new perils of trying to illegally enter Trump’s America. Even with the media attention given to ICE raids over the past two months, the odds of any individual illegal being picked up are vanishingly small, especially a new arrival who’s not on the agency’s radar yet.

Oh well. Whatever works.

John Kelly says in written testimony submitted to a Senate panel that fewer than 12,500 people were caught crossing the border last month. That compares with more than 43,000 who were detained in February. It’s the lowest monthly figure in at least 17 years.
Kelly says the decrease is “no accident” and credits President Donald Trump’s approach to illegal immigration. The Trump administration has not yet changed how the border is patrolled, but the president’s tough talk on immigration and arrests of immigrants living in the country illegally have likely acted as deterrents.

Yeah, it’s probably Trump himself that’s the chief deterrent. The “madman theory” of presidential leadership typically applies to foreign policy, but there may be something to it in immigration too. Illegals may be watching this guy from across the border worrying not that they’ll be deported if they sneak over and get caught but that they’ll be put in prison, labor camps, or lord knows what else. It’s the same fear that seems to have been driving refugees north to Canada, even in the bitter cold of winter.

Despite Obama's claim to have deported more than anyone, a claim based on a change in the word "deported" to mean turned away at the border, illegal aliens knew that if they got past the border, they were pretty safe. Now, with Trump, they're unsure of their long-term reception, and they're staying away in droves, despite the improving economy. Even before the increase in border enforcement has had much time to ramp up, the psychological effects have paid off.

Linked at Pirate's Cove in the "Sorta Blogless Sunday Pinup" and links.