Latest figures signal that counter-migration measures instituted by the Trump administration may be reducing the number of border crossers. | John Moore/Getty Images Immigration Border arrests continued to drop in August amid Trump crackdown

The number of migrants caught crossing the southwest border continued a sharp decline in August, according to preliminary figures obtained by POLITICO.

Border Patrol arrested roughly 51,000 migrants in August, a 30 percent drop from the previous month.


The latest figures signal that counter-migration measures instituted by the Trump administration may be reducing the number of border crossers. Border arrests rose from July to August in eight of the last 10 years, which suggests the current drop is not related to recent historical patterns.

President Donald Trump has made reducing illegal immigration a major focus of his administration and nascent reelection campaign, with mixed results. The number of migrants arrested at the border soared in the spring to the highest monthly levels in more than a decade. At the peak, Border Patrol arrested nearly 133,000 migrants at the southwest border, the biggest monthly total since March 2006.

Trump threatened in the spring to slap tariffs on Mexican goods coming to the U.S. if the country didn’t step up its immigration enforcement — a direct challenge to Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, a populist who took office in December.

Amid pressure from Trump, officials from the U.S. and Mexico reached an agreement in June that required Mexico to deploy 6,000 members of its newly formed National Guard to intercept migrants, including many from Central America. The U.S. also moved unilaterally to expand its “remain in Mexico” program, which forces certain non-Mexican asylum seekers to wait in that country pending the resolution of their cases.

Customs and Border Protection acting Commissioner Mark Morgan lauded the progress of the pact during a roundtable with reporters last month. He said approximately 30,000 asylum seekers had been sent to Mexico since the June agreement and that Mexico had mobilized 25,000 National Guard troops to deal with illegal immigration at both its northern and southern borders.

Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin McAleenan addressed the falling arrests Wednesday during a press conference with Trump at the Oval Office. McAleenan said border arrests had been more than halved in August compared with the May peak, but told reporters that finalized statistics were being compiled and would be released next week.

Trump praised Mexico’s recent efforts to halt migration during the press conference, which centered on the response to Hurricane Dorian as it approached the Carolinas.

“The numbers are really good,” Trump said of the still-unofficial August arrest figures. “I want to thank again the country of Mexico. They have 25,000 soldiers now right protecting our border. And they've done a fantastic job, so we appreciate that very much."

The U.S. and Mexico agreed in June to evaluate the efficacy of the measures within 90 days — a period that ends Thursday.

The Trump administration has experimented with a range of additional strategies to slow the flow of people at the border, including the separation of thousands of migrant parents and children under the administration’s “zero tolerance” policy launched in April 2018. Trump effectively ended the much-criticized initiative in June 2018 and a federal judge ordered the administration to reunite separated families shortly thereafter.

Trump’s signature project — a wall on the U.S.-Mexico border — has been hampered by an unwillingness in Congress to provide billions in funds, but the Supreme Court in July allowed the administration to access $2.5 billion from a Pentagon counter-drug fund for construction.

In addition to that pot of money, the Defense Department announced Tuesday that it would use $3.6 billion in military construction funds to pay for border barrier projects in California, Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The funds are tied to a national emergency that Trump declared in February after Congress refused to fulfill a similar funding request.

Both moves remain subject to ongoing litigation and the American Civil Liberties Union — which represents parties in one legal challenge — pledged to fight the latest funding decision it in court.