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Yahoo
7 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Texas border sheriff says illegal crossings have seen ‘dramatic decline' as CA migrant center shuts down
A Texas sheriff, whose county shares 54 miles of the U.S. southern border with Mexico, told Fox News Digital he has seen a "dramatic decline" in illegal migrant crossings since President Donald Trump took office, specifically, a sharp decrease in the last two weeks. "Since President Trump took over, we have seen a continued decline in apprehensions," Terrell County Sheriff Thaddeus Cleveland told Fox. "This past two-week period, we should have been busier because it coincides with the full moon cycle, that's usually when we see more activity in our area." Alleged Human Smugglers Arrested In Texas After Hiding Migrants Inside Hollowed Hay Bales The U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) revealed earlier this month that April year-over-year apprehensions at the border were down 93%. CBP reported 129,000 apprehensions in April 2024 under the Biden administration, compared to 8,383 this past month under Trump. "You know, during the Biden administration, we saw, just like the rest of the U.S.-Mexico border, record levels of crossings and gotaways in our county," Cleveland explained. "We also saw record levels of deaths from people trying to enter the United States. So that was definitely a challenge for us when you talk about the 10th largest county in the state of Texas, just over 2300 square miles, 54 miles of river." Trump border czar Tom Homan weighed in on the dramatic decrease in illegal crossings, telling Fox News Digital last week that the U.S. border "is the most secure in the nation's history." Read On The Fox News App Trump Sanctions Are 'Full-frontal Assault' On Organized Crime At The Border, Expert Says "The way we did it, that we got a president in the White House, a strong president, who simply ruled a lot of [Executive Orders], the same [Executive Orders] that were proved effective in Trump 45, remain in Mexico, third state country agreements, ending catch and release, and continue building border barriers," Homan told Fox. Cleveland's comments come days after a San Diego immigrant center shut down due to an "unprecedented decrease in illegal crossings this year." "In 3/2025, San Diego Sector arrested 1,199 illegal aliens with an average of 38 per day. This was a 186% drop compared to 3/2024," the U.S. Border Patrol San Diego Sector posted to X on Sunday. Ice Begins New, Nationwide Effort To Arrest Illegal Aliens At Immigration Hearings Cleveland noted there might be additional facility closures if illegal crossing numbers continue to plummet. "As the border activity becomes slower and we see less and less crossings, we're starting to see Border Patrol close more of these south side of facilities," the Texas sheriff added. "We don't have any out here in our area of West Texas. The closest one we had was down in Eagle Pass." "There's no reason to spend that money to keep those open, and they can definitely use that money in other parts of the border."Original article source: Texas border sheriff says illegal crossings have seen 'dramatic decline' as CA migrant center shuts down
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Trump sanctions are ‘full-frontal assault' on organized crime at the border, expert says
The Trump Treasury Department's new sanctions are a "full-frontal assault" on one of the deadliest southern border cartels, a local border official told Fox News Digital. The Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) sanctioned two high-ranking Cartel del Noreste (CDN) members, Mexican nationals Miguel Angel de Anda Ledezma and Ricardo Gonzalez Sauceda, Wednesday. CDN was one of eight cartels and transnational criminal groups labeled "foreign terrorist organizations" by the Department of State Feb. 20. Under new sanctions announced this week, all property and interest in properties belonging to De Anda and Gonzalez that are in the United States or in the possession or control of U.S. persons are blocked. Exclusive: Illegal Alien Whose Deportation Was Paused By 'Activist' Judge Sexually Assaulted A Disabled Woman While announcing the sanctions, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said the department is "working toward the total elimination of cartels to make America safe again" and that the Trump administration "will hold these terrorists accountable for their criminal activities and abhorrent acts of violence." Read On The Fox News App "CDN and its leaders have carried out a violent campaign of intimidation, kidnapping and terrorism, threatening communities on both sides of our southern border," said Bessent. "We will continue to cut off the cartels' ability to obtain the drugs, money and guns that enable their violent activities." Ice Begins New, Nationwide Effort To Arrest Illegal Aliens At Immigration Hearings Paul Perez, who leads the National Border Patrol Council chapter in the South Texas Rio Grande Valley, told Fox News Digital even though the Trump administration's border crackdown has dramatically reduced illegal crossings, the cartels, including CDN, continue to present a threat to the lives and safety of American citizens living on the border. "The threat of cartels is still there," Perez said in an interview with Fox News Digital. He noted that "the thing about the cartels is that they're very sophisticated," explaining they have begun using advanced technology like drones to carry out their operations. "They're not the street gang-level managers," he said. "They've got a lot of people on their side that have been in this industry for a long time. They know how to get their products moving. They know how to get their product across." In Mexico, Perez said, the cartels control the border and "act with impunity all along the border," while the Mexican police and military are unable to stop them. He said cartel gunfights along the border often lead to cartel members fleeing north into the U.S., where "they're going to do everything they can to get away and get back. And if that means harming American citizens, then they're going to do that." Click Here For More Immigration Coverage When it comes to CDN, Perez said "they engage in grotesque conduct," such as beheadings and kidnappings and "will harm anybody that gets in their way" regardless of whether they are American or otherwise. "What I can tell you about the Noreste cartel, they're no different than any other cartels out there, the Sinaloa cartel. They're all deadly cartels. They all traffic in fentanyl. They all traffic in drugs. They are trafficking people," he explained. Trump Admin Promises To Be 'Ruthlessly Aggressive' In Response To Suspected Cartel Killing Of Us Citizen By targeting CDN's leadership, Perez said the Trump administration is effectively weakening the cartel by creating a power vacuum that will cause infighting that will further sap the organization's strength. "The cartels are definitely going to feel it," he said. "So, it's a full-frontal assault from the United States. "That's the protection that we're bringing to the border that we weren't able to bring under President Biden," he added. "President Trump, on the campaign trail, and since he's been in office, has repeatedly said he's going to do everything he can to protect the United States, to protect its citizens and make sure that there's nobody around that can do harm to our country. And he's doing that. He's taking on the cartels. He's not afraid of them. "We want to decimate the cartel activity that's going on in the United States. So, he's done what he said he was going to. We support that 100%."Original article source: Trump sanctions are 'full-frontal assault' on organized crime at the border, expert says
