The new US Border Patrol chief said the number of illegal migrants stopped trying to cross the besieged southern border has dropped an astonishing 90% since January 21 — a day after President Trump’s inauguration.
Michael Banks, a longtime former border agent himself, touted the plunge in illegal crossings in an interview on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends” Thursday, adding that prosecutions of criminal migrants the agency has apprehended have also jumped 52%.
“US Border Patrol knows how to get the job done, we know how to secure the border. All we needed was a president that was going to empower us — a strong leader like President Trump — and a secretary like Secretary Noem that knows exactly what we need to do to secure the border,” he said.
Banks did not provide the exact figures on illegal border crossings or clarify what time period he was comparing the drop to, however, Border Patrol figures viewed by The Post show that the number of migrants in the agency’s custody has plummeted by more than 500% since the summer.
US Customs and Border Patrol currently has approximately 1,500 illegal immigrants in custody — a drop in the bucket compared to June when over 10,000 migrants were locked up.
The staggering decline in the number of migrants in custody is a direct result of the Trump administration’s commitment to ramped-up enforcement, the data shows.
Banks, Texas’ former border czar, also dispelled misinformation that the agency was cruelly targeting “abuelas” (grandmothers) and families instead of hardened criminals.
“It’s just nonsense. It’s rhetoric that we’re targeting … school buses and children. It’s absurd. And if you want to talk about abuelas, my abuela is a naturalized citizen from Mexico,” he said.
“We’re certainly not targeting abuelas, we’re not targeting people who are in this country legally and don’t have the authority to go after someone who’s in this country legally,” he added.
“We’re targeting criminals, and those who have broken the law by entering the country illegally.”
The numbers under Trump’s new enforcement regime speak for themselves.
Not only have more than 5,500 illegal migrants wanted for violent crimes been taken off the streets since Inauguration Day, but once-bustling border crossing hubs have slowed to a relative trickle.
This has been particularly pronounced in Texas. On Feb. 5, just 396 illegal crossings were recorded across El Paso, Rio Grande Valley, Laredo, Del Rio and Big Bend.
Del Rio alone was seeing thousands of illegal crossings per day under the Biden administration, including a spike in September, 2021 when more than 14,000 Haitian migrants appeared at the border over a matter of days.