Axios Says ‘No One Knows’ Why Illegal Immigrant Traffic Is Down

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Contreras answers why traffic has fallen so much in the second line of the story, under the heading, Why it Matters. The latest data from U.S. Customs and Border Protection show Trump’s “hardline immigration approach — especially along the U.S.-Mexico border — may be achieving its goal, even as the administration has not stopped all noncitizens without papers from entry.”

In other words, while “no one knows” why Illegal immigration encounters in June dropped to their lowest levels ever, the answer is Trump and his administration are doing what previous administrations have failed to do: They are enforcing immigration law. The fact that the publication calls that a “hardline immigration approach” is quite telling in its own right.

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Ira Mehlman, a named immigration expert, tells The Federalist that illegal immigrants and smuggling networks know how Trump’s enforcement actions are playing out. That’s why relatively few are showing up.

“The reason is pretty obvious. The administration has basically sent a message that you’re not going to come across, and if you do you will be deported,” Mehlman, media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform, said Thursday in a phone interview.

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Contreras notes as much in the Axios piece, writing that “the massive drop does come as the Trump administration has sent more resources to the border, worked to end humanitarian paroles and similar programs and scaled back on refugee entries.” Hey, Axios! Over here. There’s your answer.

Ah, but “no one knows” why the border is now secure after four disastrously long years of Joe Biden’s presidency.

According to the CBP, there were zero paroles in June compared to 27,766 in June 2024 under Biden. Agents reported 25,228 encounters with illegal border crossers, the lowest monthly total in Border Patrol history. There were just 6,072 Southwest border apprehensions last month, down 15 percent from March’s record low. Compare all of that to the open borders era of the Biden administration when hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants flooded in monthly.

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But Axios is gobsmacked by how those record levels came about. “No one knows.”

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“People respond rationally to the signals that are sent. Biden signaled the border was open,” Mehlman said. Trump has sent the opposite message.

There you go, Axios. Mystery solved.