Washington DC [US], February 26 : White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday (local time) claimed that in US President Donald Trump's administration, illegal border crossing has dropped down to 94 per cent, and interior arrests have risen by 134 per cent.
Leavitt further said that there were only 220 border crossings reported from across the border, which is a 15-year low.
"In President Trump's first month back in office alone, illegal border crossings hit lows not seen in decades -- down 94% over the last year. While interior arrests are up 134%. And this past Saturday this is a significant statistic- there were only 220 illegal border crossings on Saturday this is a 15-year low. Think about that in comparison to the amount of illegal border crossings we saw under the previous administration," she said.
Leavitt also noted a 'reverse migration effect,' in which migrants are choosing to stay in their countries of origin, citing the Trump administration as the reason.
"Fox recently reported that a San Diego migrant shelter is closing its doors after saying they have not received new Asylum-seeking families or individuals since January 20th. We all know what happened on January 20th, don't we? And yesterday New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced that the massive Roosevelt Hotel migrant shelter in Manhattan will shut down in the next few months. We're also seeing a reverse migration effect. There are now verified reports from the Associated Press of migrants abandoning their Journey to the United States and heading back home. This is the first time the border patrol has received these reports since 2020- during President Trump's first term the returning migrants claimed in interviews that the new heavy security posture adopted by the Trump Administration was a significant reason for their decision to return to the countries of their origin," she said.
Leavitt said that American citizens hold high views for Trump, and showered him with positive remarks. His policies on illegal border crossing and working with the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) received high reviews and are immensely popular.
"The American people continue to overwhelmingly give President Trump very positive marks. Nearly every one of President Trump's policy initiatives is receiving strong majority support... 81% of Americans support deporting illegal migrant criminals from our nation. 76% of Americans support the DOGE-led efforts of a full-scale investigation to find and eliminate fraud and waste in government expenditures. Again this is from a Harvard Harris poll- a very legitimate pollster. 76% of Americans support closing the border 69% of Americans support President Trump's Common Sense efforts to ban men from women's sports, as you all know we celebrated that executive order at the White House a couple of weeks ago. 65% of Americans support the president's efforts to eliminate all preferences by race and the hiring and awarding of government contracts which is another pledge that DOGE is working hard to fulfill and 61% of Americans- the vast majority- support the president's plan for the reciprocal tariffs to ensure that other countries are treating us the way we have always been treated," she said.
Leavitt said that although there are criticisms of Trump's working style, it remains popular because it is driven by what Trump calls 'common sense'.
"Despite what many Democrats and media members want you to believe, the Trump agenda is not only necessary, but it is overwhelmingly popular. Why? Because it's driven by Common Sense," she said.
Leavitt said that the border wall was Trump's idea, and it proved to be effective even during his previous term in office.
"The border wall is a signature promise of President Trump's campaign he talked about it way back in 2015 and 2016 and people laughed at him for bringing up this idea. It's proven to be not only an idea that he delivered on in his first term, and continues to deliver on in the second term but it's also proven to be highly effective. In fact, we know where there were parts of President Trump's border wall built standing under the previous administration, illegal border crossings dropped by 87% where there was a border wall. So, the wall is an incredible deterrent factor for illegal migrant caravans," she said.
She further added that the democrats 'sold off' the resources Trump secured to build the wall in what she called an 'egregious waste of the taxpayers' money'.
"The president is committed to the continuation of the construction of the wall and you know, the previous administration actually sold off the resources that the Trump Administration secured to build the wall. That's an egregious misuse of the American taxpayers' money. They just let those resources rot on the southern border. They actually sold them for pennies on the dollar so this Administration um DHS, ICE and customs in Border Patrol and Border Czar Tom Homman and all of the great people you know who are working on this effort are committed to continuing the construction of President Trump's border walls," she said.