The head of Homeland Security says arrests of people entering the United States illegally across the Mexican border plummeted last month. That's a signal that fewer people are trying to sneak into the US.
John Kelly says in written testimony submitted to a Senate panel that fewer than 12,500 people were caught crossing the border last month.
That compares with more than 43,000 who were detained in February. It's the lowest monthly figure in at least 17 years.
Kelly says the decrease is 'no accident' and credits President Donald Trump's approach to illegal immigration.
Homeland Security says arrests at the Mexico/US border (above in Arizona) are the lowest monthly figure in 17 years
General John Kelly, above, head of Homeland Security, credits his boss, Donald Trump, with the steep decline in people trying to cross the Mexican border in March
The Trump administration has not yet changed how the border is patrolled, but the president's tough talk on immigration and arrests of immigrants living in the country illegally have likely acted as deterrents.
It's unclear if the declines will continue. The number of people caught trying to enter the United States typically increases as the weather warms.
Arrests during the normally slower winter months were higher than in past years. It is possible that some migrants rushed to the border after the election and before Trump took office.
Arrests at the border plummeted in March, says Homeland Security, however, no one knows if those figures will continue
It's also unclear if migrants are waiting south of the border to see how Trump's border security efforts and plans for a wall develop.
In his testimony for the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, Kelly said fewer than 12,500 people were caught crossing the border illegally last month. That compares with more than 43,000 in December.
Kelly told lawmakers that the number of families and children traveling alone - groups that accounted for hundreds of thousands of illegal border crossers in recent years - also declined steeply.
Last month fewer than 1,000 children were caught at the border and fewer than 1,100 people traveling as families were found. In recent years most of the families and children traveling alone have been from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala.
Kelly has said his agency is considering separating parents and children as a way to dissuade parents from making the trek from Central America.
News of the dramatic decrease in arrests comes on the same day that proposals for Trump's border wall were due to the government.
Last month, Customs and Border Protection published two notices asking for private companies to bid on the project.
The government intended to have successful bidders build prototypes in San Diego this year before selecting a final design.
Homeland Security spokesman David Lapan said Tuesday that while the Trump administration's budget request for a more than $2 billion down payment on the wall appears unlikely to win approval in Congress this year, Homeland Security has the money to start the process and fund the prototypes.
SOURCE: Daily Mail
