Editorial: Trump’s aggressive approach to the border pays off

The Trump administration s tariff policies and the industry fallout have overshadowed one of the president s majority of prominent successes The chaos at the perimeter created by his doddering predecessor has ceased Homeland Guard representatives assessment that illegal crossings at the southern confines have fallen to their lowest level in decades The U S Edge Patrol nabbed illegal newcomers in February down from in December the last full month of the Biden years Apprehensions hit a record high in December at more than Once-crowded migrant shelters are empty The New York Times disclosed Instead of heading north people stranded in Mexico are starting to return home in bigger numbers One immigration expert recounted the paper that if current trends continue illegal crossings could fall to levels unseen since around The Times also notes that President Donald Trump s tough stance on the boundary has had a ripple effect Officers with Panama s Immigration Institute explained the paper The number of people trying to reach the United States through the Dari n Gap the forbidding land bridge connecting South America and Central America that is a barometer of future pressure at the U S -Mexico demarcation dropped to in February down from more than in the same month last year Last month U S Customs and Demarcation Protection began closing temporary processing centers because of a lack of clientele That s a savings of between million and million a month depending on the facility There s another tangible benefit The closings the agency reports will allow agents previously assigned to those temporary processing facilities to return to their primary enforcement duties along the frontier Progressives who loathe all things Trump cynically credit Joe Biden with the turnaround noting that illegal crossings began to fall after the previous White House absolutely made a modest effort last year to address the boundary dilemma This ignores the rapid magnitude of the progress achieved by the Trump administration It also disregards the fact that for the first three-plus years of his presidency Biden created the immigration mess by taking a permissive approach to the edge in a misguided effort to appease his party s loud progressive wing Biden acted only when it became apparent that his fecklessness on the demarcation had become a political liability for Democrats The country requirements a rational immigration framework that recognizes the importance of secure borders while acknowledging the economic advantages of legal and orderly migration that doesn t strain the support of the federal leadership states or local communities Gaining control of our southern limit is a step toward that elusive goal Las Vegas Review-Journal Tribune News Utility Editorial cartoon by Steve Breen Creators Syndicate