Illegal immigration down 67%.

Illegal immigration down 67 percent under Trump: Former commissioner

Illegal immigration across the U.S.-Mexico border has continued to fall under President Trump, dropping 67 percent through the end of March, the former border commissioner told Congress on Tuesday.

That’s even bigger than the drop reported for February, when the number of illegal immigrants caught — a yardstick for the overall flow — dropped by 40 percent.

“It’s actually up to 67 percent drop compared to last year,” David V. Aguilar, a former chief of the Border Patrol and former acting commissioner of U.S. Customs and Border Protection, told the Senate Homeland Security Committee.

Customs and Border Protection did not immediately respond to a request for confirmation of the numbers Mr. Aguilar cited.

The agency has been releasing its monthly figures each month, though the March figures have not been released.

But a drop anywhere close to the 67 percent figure Mr. Aguilar cited would be stunning, and suggests the early steps the president has taken to free up agents to enforce immigration laws at the interior and the border, and his plans to build a border wall, have deterred tens of thousands of would-be crossers.

Mr. Aguilar said these kinds of drops have occurred before, during the Reagan administration, after Congress passed a broad amnesty granting legal status to millions of illegal immigrants, and promised to get tough on enforcement.

The legalization followed, but the tough enforcement didn’t come — and illegal immigration soared in the ensuing 20 years.